Our Stories

Barbara Talavan has shaped SI’s Summer Programs for 17 years, the first seven as assistant program director and the past decade as its director.

After she announced that the past summer would be her last in the program, the school named Bill Gotch as her replacement. Currently dean of students along with Michelle Levine, Gotch is an experienced coach and educator. He inherits a robust and successful program, he noted, “thanks to Barbara.”

He praised her organization and creativity, noting that “she has been generous to me about sharing both the details of her organization and her passion for serving families who need great summer programs. You name it, she has been gracious helping me with contacts and curriculum.”

He also praised her for “being present to teachers and the families of those in the summer school classes and camps year-round. As I have spoken with teachers, coaches and camp directors, I have heard them sing her praises. She supported them tremendously, and it will be a challenge for me to maintain her level of care.” (Read more …)

Anne Stricherz, a veteran cross country coach and religious studies teacher at SI, found herself years ago with a group of her runners at one end of SI’s Jack Wilsey Track.

It wasn’t her girls that caught her attention. Instead, it was the football team and their coach at the time, Joe Vollert ’84.

“Joe invited his athletes to stretch in silence and to use that time to pray,” said Stricherz. “He suggested that his team give thanks to God for the beautiful day, pray the Examen or think about a person who needed help. He wanted that time to be intentional. From Joe, I learned that every coach should make space for silence and prayer during practice.” (Read more…)

Helena Miller-Fleig worries about a particular brand of illiteracy affecting many Americans.

She begins her World Religions classes at SI with this concern by showcasing studies that reveal how Americans barely understand religions beyond their own. “Some don’t even know all that much about their own religions,” she added. “Religious illiteracy is a pervasive problem in our country, and it frightens me that you can be a well-educated person but never learn anything about the faiths and cultures that inspire people around the world. In order to be a global citizen, you should be able to relate to people different from yourself.” (Read more…)

Shannon Vanderpol (in green) with her students. Below: Top row, from right, is Shannon Vanderpol; third from right is Anna Kegulski ’09, who nominated Vanderpol for the award. The photo was taken in a Katrina-damaged home in New Orleans that the SI immersion group renovated.

Shannon Vanderpol, who teaches religious studies and works in campus ministry, was named a Symetra Hero in the Classroom (presented by Wells Fargo and the San Francisco 49ers), and received a surprise visit Aug. 30, 2012, when Tyson Lamp, a sales executive for the team, presented her with a series of gifts and the school with a $1,000 check. (She plans to donate the money to the financial aid fund for SI’s Immersion Program.)

 Vanderpol was also honored, along with one other teacher, during the halftime show of the 49ers-Lions game on Sept. 16, when she received a jersey and ball signed by the team. She also received a $250 gift card for Office Max and two VIP field passes for the game. (Read more …)

Jennifer Roy and Karen Dana have given massages to members of the city’s homeless community thanks to training they received from the Care Through Touch Institute. 

Most of us follow unspoken rules when we see homeless people on the street: We avoid eye-contact, we never give money, and we avoid touching people who may smell or have dirty and torn clothing.

Karen Dana, the mother of Alison Dana ’09, and Jennifer Roy, who works in SI’s Campus Ministry office organizing senior and sophomore retreats, break these rules on a regular basis by volunteering to massage homeless men and women, easing knots in sore backs and shoulders and rubbing tired and calloused feet.

They received training to do this from San Francisco’s Care Through Touch Institute (CTI), an organization founded by Mary Ann Finch in 1983. (Read more …)

Justin Christensen was humbled when the California League of High Schools named him one of nine Educators of the Year for District 4.

He was even more moved when he heard what his students had to say about him during an interview for this piece.

Students offered a wave of praise for a man who has introduced innovative ways to teach AP Government. (Read more …)

In college, Elizabeth Alexander took all the advanced math courses she needed for her major, but never once did she find a class that covered the basics — like how to balance a checkbook.

After she graduated from college, she spoke with a financial advisor. “He helped me figure out how I can go to grad school without student loans,” she noted. “He made my life so much easier.”

She realized students in her yearlong Introduction to Finance class at SI experienced the same gaps in education that she had and would benefit from real-life lessons. She then revised her curriculum to cover how to create budgets and pay taxes, how to determine the best way to build credit scores and how to shop for credit cards. (Read more…)

Meredith Cecchin Galvin ’97 celebrated with Kevin Quattrin ’78 and his daughter, Joanna ’14, one of the dancers in Kevin’s last show.

Kevin Quattrin ’78, at the end of the 20-year anniversary Dance Concert in January, retired from SI’s theatre department after 34 years of managing the stage and lighting crews for 109 different productions.

A talented teacher who has chaired the math department, authored texts and earned a doctoral degree, Quattrin will continue teaching and analyzing the school’s statistical data.

While his statistics as the backstage guru are impressive, one story best captures the impact he had on the SI theatre program. (Read more …)

When SI counselor Brice Campoverdi came to SI from Archbishop Mitty High School in 2007, she brought with her Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society’s signature fund-raiser.

She also brought a history of serving as a caregiver for a colleague who survived a brain tumor. She also carries the memory of two aunts, one who had recently fallen victim to leukemia.

Campoverdi had been an organizer for Mitty’s Relay for Life, which asks those affected by cancer, either as patients, survivors or family members, to walk around a track in shifts for 24 hours and raise funds from sponsors. (Read more …)

From left, Michelle Nevin Levine, Bill Gotch and Katie Drucker Kohmann continue the traditions of past deans, and they meet challenges brought on by 21st century dangers, including the potential abuses of social media. 

When most SI grads from the 1960s or 1970s reminisce about the times they got into trouble, they probably picture themselves receiving detention for drinking beer or smoking cigarettes at the Circle.

Michelle Levine and Bill Gotch, who have served as deans of discipline since 2008, face a different disciplinary landscape than in past years given the greater prevalence of social media and new technologies.

Just like the deans of past years, they are meeting those challenges head-on both with a flexible set of rules and a partnership with the greater school community. They also practice the same cura personalis – care for the whole person – that has guided the deans’ office for decades. (Read more …)

Tasia Davis will join SI in the fall to serve as dean alongside Bill Gotch. SI Principal Patrick Ruff made the announcement in May, praising Davis and thanking Michelle Levine, who is leaving the Deans’ Office to serve as director of the Counseling Department. Levine and Gotch have served as deans of students since 2008, when Brother Douglas Draper, S.J., and Karen Cota stepped down as deans.

Davis served as the dean of students at Immaculate Conception Academy in San Francisco from 2012 to 2016 before leaving to become a Stanford University administrator. (Read more…) 

Brother Douglas Draper, S.J., who first came to SI Oct. 12, 1966, to assist Dean of Students Leo Hyde, celebrated 50 years at SI last year.

Soon after he took over as dean in 1969, students not only from SI but also throughout the city knew that there was a new sheriff in town — one whom they learned to respect thanks to his fairness and wisdom. (Read more…)

After 47 years teaching English, 41 of those at SI, Bill Isham handed in his chalk and gradebook in June. He may have called in sick once or twice over those years, but he can’t recall when. His work as an English teacher, he noted, “feels ordained. I’m not sure what else I would have done with my life.”

The timing of Isham’s retirement shows why it’s a good thing he wasn’t a math teacher. “I was thinking 40 years at SI had a nice ring to it, and so I began calculating my retirement along those lines. I had begun at SI in 1976 and so I quickly — and erroneously — calculated that 2016 would be my 40th. The truth is, I wasn’t ready to give it up last year, and so I’ve been perfectly happy taking another lap.” (Read more…)

Grace Curcio (center, in red) with one of her Latin classes at SI.

The California League of High Schools named SI Latin teacher Grace Curcio Educator of the Year for District 4 on Nov. 8, 2012. 

Curcio received her award (as well as a plaque, a gift basket and an iPad mini) after a nomination by SI Principal Patrick Ruff, who called Curcio “simply one of the brightest, most creative and dedicated teachers I have been blessed to work with. Grace’s excellence not only brings great benefit upon her students, but her contributions to her colleagues and the school continued to make all of us better.”

In his letter of nomination, he cited Curcio’s “infectious, inspiring and enthusiastic passion for Latin. Not surprisingly, Grace’s students absolutely love coming to her class.”

Ruff also praised her work as a department chair, a job where she “created and sustained a department culture that respects all viewpoints; she consistently models effective interpersonal skills with her colleagues, always communicating in a gentle yet direct manner.” (Read more …)

Chinese language teachers at SI include Leona Pappas (center) and Irene Wong (second from right). Ashley Miao ’16 (right) and Mattew Wu ’17 (left) have helped acclimate four college students from China (one of whom is pictured second from left), who spent 10 days at SI in January. 

Irene Wong and Leona Pappas, the two Mandarin teachers at SI, have inspired students for years because they have refused to teach the way they were taught.

Both are also ushering in changes to the Chinese language program, with SI students hosting college students from China and with a China trip planned for this summer.

Born in Taiwan, Wong first came to the U.S. in 1996. “Working as a teacher was the last thing I wanted to do,” she said. “The old Chinese way of teaching made me hate teachers, especially given all the work they gave us.”

In her last year of graduate school, Wong worked at City College of San Francisco as a teaching assistant. There she discovered new methods of teaching that fascinated her. She honed her skills at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, where she learned to integrate technology into the study of Mandarin. (Read more …)

Adrian O’Keefe teaches an astronomy class from his home in Mobile, Ala.,using a robotic device called The Double, as well as video-conferencing technology.

Adrian O’Keefe still finds himself amazed when he peers through a telescope and sees the rings around Saturn and the bands around Jupiter, especially as he knows he is viewing these planets in real time across the vastness of space.

That experience is a good metaphor for a new online course he is piloting from his home in Mobile, Ala., where he teaches students sitting in SI’s Beta Lab, looking at them in real time even though they are 2,300 miles away. (Read more …)

Don Gamble, Vanessa Barnard ’17 and Adeeb Shihadeh ’18 at the FRC competition. Left: The arena where #5924 competed for the first time. Below inset: Club president Alex Jarnutowski ’16 (right) and Patrick Oven ’17.

The new SI Robotics Team was barely three months old when it shocked its peers by winning the Rookie All-Star Award at its inaugural competition March 25 and 26 at UC Davis, making it to the semifinals and earning the right to compete in the world championships in St. Louis in late April.

Of 65 teams, the SI entry — which went both by its official team number (5924) and by the title “The Cat Machine” — competed in the playoff elimination rounds with the top 24 teams and was chosen by a top-seeded alliance at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. By the end of the knockout rounds, SI lost to a team that included the defending world champion.

SI finished seventh in Overall Power Ratings, which is a ranking based on an algorithm devised by FIRST to determine the total performance of a robot. (Read more …)

For the past eight years, Amy Harms has given herself to building one of the most prestigious girls’ lacrosse programs in the country. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed. Harms was selected by the California Coaches’ Association as the Northern California Girls’ Lacrosse Coach of the year.

“She is successful because she invests so much into us both on and off the field,” said Alex Robertson ’14, one of four senior captains.

Harms came to SI from her alma mater, St. Mary’s College, where she played lacrosse just two years. “When I was hired as the SI head coach, I realized just how much I had to learn. That first year was tough. Fortunately, the girls were fantastic, and I had some great athletes.” (Read more …)

Last fall, in her first months working for SI, field hockey coach Haley Sanchez led her team to a 14–0 season and took her girls to CCS play for the first time since 1998.

Along the way, she helped Jackie Ocaña ’15 earn Goalkeeper of the Year honors and Clare Connolly ’14 receive the Blossom Valley League’s MVP Award.

She also won something for herself, earning Coach of the Year while moving her squad up the league ladder from D2 to D1 play. Next year, the Wildcats will face even tougher opponents, including St. Francis and Mitty. (Read more …)

by Anne Stricherz
Genesis Sports Editor 

In the era of increased specialization in youth sports, a three-sport athlete is nearly an artifact. While a few two-sport athletes remain, the majority of high school students commit to one sport in order to compete on a varsity squad. High school coaches follow this trend, too.

Then there’s Kareem Guilbeaux ’01.

The community outreach associate for the SI admissions office, Guilbeaux played three different sports as a student at SI, and he is now one of a handful of folks who coaches multiple sports for the Wildcats. He switched last year from head JV boys’ basketball coach to serve as the assistant coach for the varsity team. As soon as that season winds down, he’s back on the same court, this time as head coach of the varsity boys’ volleyball squad.

Coaching basketball and volleyball makes him a better coach, he noted, “because each sport asks me to find different ways to support and relate to kids. My coaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that it’s not what you know that matters; it’s how you communicate that information to kids. Good coaches can do just that.” (Read more …)

SI Trainer Marla Bottner. 

Dylan Elder ’15 doing rehab for his hip.

by Anne Stricherz
Genesis Sports Editor 

No one embodies cura personalis — care for the whole person —quite like 25-year-veteran athletic trainer Marla Bottner.

Jesuit schools have adopted this Latin phrase, one that points to the need to care for all aspects of each individual. Even though Bottner cares for injuries, she doesn’t limit herself to the physical when helping athletes in her care.

When former athletic director Leo La Rocca ’53 hired Bottner, her position was part time. “Leo made athletic training a priority for the school,” said Bottner, who now works full time, evolving her role as SI and other schools have shifted in their thinking regarding the job of a trainer. “Sports medicine was in a different place when I was first hired,” said Bottner.

One notable change in high school athletics is concussion awareness, education and rehabilitation. For the last two years, the football team has played with sensors in their helmets to inform trainers and coaches if an athlete was hit hard enough to warrant examination. “Concussion education and tools to help trainers and coaches are constantly evolving,” Bottner said. “We might have a whole new system of concussion protocol next year.” She also helped with last year’s Brain Summit, which offered information to the SI community regarding head trauma, including concussions. (Read more …)

Coach Derek Johnson (right) offers religious medals as a way of inspiring his players. Photo by Paul Ghiglieri. 

by Anne Stricherz
Genesis Sports Editor

Before coming to SI in 2011 to coach JV softball, Derek Johnson tried to retire from a sport he has coached for nearly 16 years.

He told himself that he was done with youth sports but relented thanks to the persistence of former SI varsity softball coach Paul Webb, who turned the varsity program over to Johnson in 2013.

 “Paul set a new standard, one that extended pride in the program throughout the school,” said Johnson. “I hoped to carry on that tradition.”

When SI Athletic Director John Mulkerrins asked Johnson if he would feel comfortable praying with the team, Johnson knew he could and realized then “that I was given an invitation to be a part of something very special.” He takes prayer to heart in his pre-game and post-game rituals and in the way he conducts his practices.

Several years ago, he also created a new tradition in the Medal Game that takes place during Holy Week every spring as it wasn’t feasible for the team to practice during Easter break. He gave each player a religious medal to show his gratitude for the way they started the first half of the season and to extend a token of his appreciation to the team. (Read more …)

Don Sharp, S.J., does much more than ride the CYO bus with the girls’ field hockey, basketball and lacrosse teams. As team chaplain for these fall, winter and spring sports, he leads each team in prayer, consoles the injured and offers personal support to coaches and captains. An invaluable presence on the field and the bench, he is also a vital reason for their success.

“There are many pieces that make a successful program,” said Varsity Field Hockey Head Coach Haley Sanchez. “Having a presence like Fr. Sharp on a daily basis provides the girls with someone who cares for them and will do anything for them. He brings stability, strength and wisdom to our team. The girls love him.” (Read more…)

Three SI grads were inducted into the CYO Hall of Fame on March 25 at St. Emydius for their dedication to Catholic youth sports. The surprise only is that, given how busy their lives are, they volunteered so many hours in service to boys and girls through the years.

John Duggan ’59, the owner of Original Joe’s, SI Athletic Director John Mulkerrins ’89 and head girls’ basketball coach at SI Mike Mulkerrins ’91 (and John’s brother) each puts in long hours at work. Each also believes in the value of coaching and supporting upcoming generations of students.

A graduate of St. Paul’s School where he played basketball and baseball, Duggan began coaching at his grammar school while a junior at SI. He had the time, as a bad back kept him from trying out for his high school teams. (Read more…)

Veteran soccer and track coach Rob Hickox ’72 (pictured above right with John Stiegeler ’74) was inducted into the Soccer Old Timers Organization’s Hall of Fame Nov. 20 at the Basque Cultural Center. The past recipient of the CYSA District 1 Merit Award and the CIF Central Coast Section Coach’s Honor Award, Hickox has worked at SI since 1977. At the ceremony, he praised former colleagues and coaches, including some who were in the audience that night, including Fran Stiegeler, S.J. ’61, John Stiegeler ’74 and Terry Ward ’63. He also recalled one 1982 playoff game that earned mention in the Guinness Book of Records for lasting 4 hours, 56 minutes, with 16 overtime periods. “The game was called due to darkness,” said Hickox. “When we played our rematch two days later, we won in the last few minutes.”