As published by University of Portland at www.portlandpilots.com, 4/30/2012

Joel Sobotka, who has spent the last six seasons at the University of Portland as an assistant coach to Eric Reveno, has accepted the position of Athletic Director and boys basketball head coach at Valley Catholic School in Beaverton, Ore. Sobotka will continue his duties with Portland through the end of May before transitioning to his new position in June.

Read the full article here.

This note was emailed to Valley Catholic School K-12 Families on April 27, 2012

Joel Sobotka joins Valley Catholic High School as its Athletic Director/Boys Basketball Coach in June 2012

Dear Valiant Families,

We are very pleased to announce today’s hiring of Joel Sobotka as Valley Catholic’s new Athletic Director and Head Boys’ Basketball Coach. Joel’s name will be familiar to many of you. For the last six years he has been lead assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Portland. Before coming to UP, he was an assistant for two years and then head coach for four at Portland State University. For three years during his head-coaching tenure at Portland State he served as college and NBA analyst for 1080 The Fan.

Here’s a little more detailed information about Coach Sobotka’s career:

• Joel played basketball and baseball at Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona and graduated from Arizona State with a major in Management.
• His first coaching job was as an assistant at Eastern Oregon University. He then became an assistant at Arizona State before accepting a position at Portland State under head coach Ritchie McKay. When Coach McKay left in 1998, Joel was named PSU’s head coach and, at 28 years old, became the youngest Division I head coach in the nation. He served for four years as the Vikings’ head coach before leaving to accept an Assistant General Manager position with the Harlem Globetrotters in 2003. While with the Globetrotters, he managed an $8-million budget and coordinated logistics for all domestic and international tours . . . useful experience for an athletic director.
• He then spent three years at Cal State Northridge before moving to University of Portland where he’s been Eric Reveno’s top assistant, recruiting coordinator, and post coach (the Pilots no doubt receive plenty of post coaching: Coach Reveno started at post for Stanford). In 2010 he was honored as one of the top two assistant coaches in the West Coast Conference.
• Joel has also been generous in community-service work: he was on the board of directors that helped found the Oregon/Southwest Washington Chapter of the ALS Association, an organization he still serves; for three years he volunteered as Camp Director for Chris Dudley’s Camp for Kids with Diabetes; he has also worked with the Beaverton Special Olympics Youth Games, and he was selected by Oregon State Senator Ron Wyden to serve with the Backboards and Blackboards program, which educates children on academic and basketball goals and opportunities.

Joel will finish his work at UP on May 30th and begin his athletic director’s and coach’s duties at Valley in June. We are thrilled to add to our staff a person of Joel’s great experience and accomplishment.

Ross Thomas
Principal
Valley Catholic High School
rthomas@valleycatholic.org

Submitted by VCES Parent Laura Kuhner

The scrip team is accepting this month’s orders until Monday, April 30th at 8 a.m.

Order your McMenamins gift cards through Scrip to use at the VCS Family Dine-Out on Monday, May 7 at the McMenamins on Murray and Allen and you will give back twice to VCS!

Columbia Sportswear promo is back! Purchase a Columbia $50 gift card and you’ll receive ONE pass to the Columbia Sportswear employee store. It is good for the buyer and four family members or friends—PLUS a PIN # for online purchases. Passes are good for one visit any time until Sept 2012. The $50 gift cards may be used at: the flagship store in downtown Portland; PDX; outlet locations; at their online store; and at their employee store.

Scrip orders will be delivered to your child by Friday, May 4. Deliveries will be made to all three school buildings; please include the delivery information on the order form. Drop your completed forms, including payment, at the VCEMS office or email your order to scrip@valleycatholic.org. Download the new 2012 VCS Scrip Form here or pick one up in the VCEMS office.

Thank you so much for your continued support to the scrip fundraising program!
The Scrip Team

Submitted by SSMO Ministries Communications Photographer Casey Braunger

For those of you who weren’t able to attend our Middle School and High School Spring Concert, please enjoy this slideshow highlighting the evening!

Having trouble viewing the slideshow? Click here.

Submitted by Communications Specialist Danielle Tomich, with information provided by Rose Dela Rosa

Ria Dela Rosa, a junior at Valley Catholic High School, is not only a synchronized swimmer, but she also sings (she recently traveled to Hawaii with the VCHS choir) and plays the piano (she participated in the NW Piano Festival on April 16 and 17). She is also a member of the National Honor Society. Ria’s mother briefly explained Ria’s discovery of synchronized swimming: “Ria is a swimmer and was on VCS’s swim team in elementary school. She also did gymnastics, ballet, tap & jazz. But once she joined this Synchro team, she said “I think I’ve found my sport.”

Indeed, Ria has found her sport. Last week Ria’s synchronized swim team, the top junior squad at the Multnomah Athletic Club (MAC), participated in the most elite competition for US athletes, the US Synchronized Swimming Nationals in Phoenix, Arizona. According to the team’s coach, Julie Thaden, “All routines had to have a qualifying score to enter this event and the competitive fields were very deep, including current and former national team members. For the first time, this newly-combined event featured junior, senior and open divisions. Participants included teams from the age group to college varsity level. Our athletes had great performances which resulted in some of their best placements for this level of competition.”

The MAC team competed against 17 other teams, and Ria participated in the Junior Team and Combo Routines, which placed 10th and 9th respectively.

The US Age Group Nationals in Cleveland, Ohio will be held June 26 to July 1, and Ria will be swimming her Trio & Junior Team Routines. This will be the biggest meet for synchronized swimmers. Here are some upcoming opportunities to watch Ria and her team locally:

Classic Invitational Meet
MAC Pool, SW Salmon St., Portland
Ria’s Trio Routine: Saturday, April 28, 1 p.m.
Junior Team Routine: Sunday, April 29, 8:15 a.m.

MAC Synchro Exhibition
MAC Pool, SW Salmon St., Portland
Friday, May 11, 6:15 p.m. This is a fun night to watch the various age group routines (solos, duets, trios and the evening will highlight Ria’s Junior Team)

Regional Synchro Meet
Kirkland, Washington
May 18-20, 2012

Ria and her family hope some of you can watch her and this unique, beautiful sport.  Best of luck in your competitions, Ria!

(Just for fun, check out a reporter’s video of just how hard the sport actually is: A Synchronized-Swim Lesson with Sean Gregory).

Submitted by Director of Campus Life Mary Donovan with Communications Speciallist Danielle Tomich; Photos by SSMO Ministries Communications Photographer Casey Braunger

Thursday, April 26 marked Fr. John Kerns’ last Mass for Valley Catholic High School. Father Kerns has been assigned to a new parish, Our Lady of the Lake in Lake Oswego, beginning July 1. His new parish has a K-8 school that will preclude him from ministering at Valley Catholic School. For the past nine years, Fr. Kerns has been ministering to parishioners of St. Juan Diego, a parish established in 2002 that does not have a parochial school.

In many ways, Father Kerns “adopted” Valley Catholic School; he has been an important part of many events here. He has been celebrating Masses with us for many years and has always been a ready advisor to be sure that our Masses are conducted according to Church instructions. There have been many, many Penance Services that he has taken part in over the years and he has been very giving of his time for our Junior Encounters by giving up Friday nights a couple of times a year to drive all the way out to the Molalla Retreat Center to be there for reconciliation. He always ended those nights with a special song that he teaches the retreatants. This song has become a time-honored tradition for encounter. Valley Catholic High School students have come to love and respect Father Kerns and look forward to his visits to campus and their encounters.

In past years he has even been instrumental in fundraising for our school, by donating his musical talents to us in the way of auction items.

Father Kerns has been a constant source of inspiration and enthusiasm for our students and staff, and he will be greatly missed in our community.  He will hold one more Mass on our campus, for the elementary school, on June 13.

We wish him many blessings in his new parish.

Can’t view this slideshow?  Click here.

Valley Catholic Japanese students had a great showing at the 24th Annual Japanese Speech Contest, organized by the Consulate-General of Japan, Saturday, April 21, at the World Trade Center in Portland.

The competition is among students studying Japanese in high schools, middle schools, and immersion programs in Oregon. Twenty-one students from 10 schools participated. There were three divisions: Division 1, middle school students; Division 2, high school students; and Division 3, immersion program students of middle and high school level or students from homes where Japanese is spoken.

Out of nine possible prizes, students from VCS won three. The following students from Valley Catholic placed in this competition:

Division I (Middle School)
1st Place: Tomás Ramirez, 8th Grade
2nd Place: Austin Ketterer, 8th Grade

Division II (High School)
1st Place: Leah Klaas (12th Grade)

Congratulations to these students and their proud teacher, Yoko Miwa.

Submitted by VCES Music Teacher Sr. Denise Klaas, SSMO

The 2012 Campus Music Jamboree will be held Friday, May 4, at 7 p.m. in the Valiants’ Gym.

The Campus Music Jamboree is an evening of wonderful music featuring the music ensembles of Valley Catholic Elementary School, Valley Catholic Middle School, and Valley Catholic High School.  It’s a great opportunity to experience the progression of music in all three schools on campus.

The VCES Youth Orchestra, Hand Bell Team 5, Marian Singers, and Fourth Grade Violin classes will also be participating.

Students are asked to be in the Valiants’ Gym at 6:30 p.m.

**After the concert, students and parents are needed to transport all equipment and instruments to the VCES Music Room. Thank you for your help and assistance.

If there are any questions, please contact Sister Denise.

Submitted by Communications Specialist Danielle Tomich

Thursday morning, April 19, 33 members of the Valley Catholic High School Choir flew from rainy Portland to sunny Hawaii.

The trip has been a tradition for Sr. M. Juliana Monti and the high school choir for 20 years.  Every four years, Sister has organized a choir trip to Oahu to sing at Pearl Harbor and other pre-arranged venues.  This year’s trip was especially poignant since Sr. Juliana announced her retirement from her positions at Valley Catholic School last week.  Although Sister will continue her duties as the VC Music School Director, this was her last choir trip to Hawaii.

Also on the trip was Sr. M. John Therese Miller, SSMO, who has been involved in the music and choir programs at Valley Catholic School for many years.

With nine other adults, the two Sisters escorted the students on a trip of a lifetime.  Ranging in age from freshman to seniors, the students were excited to enjoy the sunshine, beaches and shopping in Waikiki. Many of the students had not visited Hawaii, and a few were taking their first flight.

The group sang first at Pearl Harbor on Friday after visiting the museum and the USS Arizona Memorial.  Visitors, as well as two survivors of the Pearl Habor attack, gathered to hear them sing a medley of the theme songs of the US forces as well as the national anthem.  Their second appearance was at a shopping plaza in Waikiki, where they performed a full set of songs that included solos by senior Evan Tait and sophomore Ceilidh McCallum.  That evening at Germaine’s Luau, after enjoying a feast including Kalua Pua’a (roasted pig), they sang in front of a crowd of over 500 people.  Some of the students later got on stage again for a lesson in the fine art of hula dancing.

Saturday was a free day, and students split into groups to explore several different activities, such as hiking Diamond Head, surfing, snorkeling, relaxing on the beach and shopping.

Sunday the choir attended Mass at St. Augustine’s in the heart of Waikiki and sang three songs in the liturgy.

The below photo gallery is comprised of photos gathered from students and parent chaperones.  

Having trouble viewing the slideshow? Click here.

Photos by SSMO Ministries Communications Photographer Casey Braunger

Nothing starts the week off right like some gunshots and cannon fire! As part of our history curriculum, our very own Phil McQueen and some of his esteemed guests and reenactment colleagues brought in some Civil War era weaponry. Everyone involved truly had a “blast”!

Having trouble viewing the slideshow? Click here.