ALUMNA HIGHLIGHT

     Alumna, Shianling Wu, attended St. Jean Baptiste High School when she arrived in Manhattan from Taiwan in the fall of 1973 as an 11th grader.  Coming from a large Buddhist family, the thought of attending Catholic school was far removed from Shianling's mind, but due to one of her aunts and the lone Catholic of the family, Shianling's parents made a connection with the Catholic community.  Her parents felt that she and her brother would be secure attending Catholic schools in this new world in which they now found themselves.

    Shianling barely minded the daily two-hour round trip bus ride from the Upper West Side to St. Jean's.  What did have an impact on her was how the Congregation of Notre Dame Sisters treated her.  Despite language barriers and religious differences, she felt their complete and utter compassion in helping her transition into her new life in America.  Shianling writes, "I will forever treasure my fond memories with Sister O'Shea who tirelessly tutored me in English, Sister Good who worked with me on Math, Sister O'Dea who was the principal then, and countless other teachers and my classmates.  

      "As I leaf through my St. Jean's 1975 year book and diploma, I feel great nostalgia and deep appreciation for the Sisters who helped me ease into my life in America, the classmates, and the place that made me feel welcome and very much loved." Shianling also wrote that she would not be who she is today without the undivided attention she received combined with a top-rated education from St. Jean's.  After graduation, she went on to earn a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from City College of New York and Columbia University.  Shianling has worked for the Bell Laboratories, AT&T for years and is currently the Vice President of Engineering at a Silicon Valley firm.

    Shianling is married with two sons. One works in finance and the other is a high school teacher in New York City.

JEANITE AWARDS, COMPETITIONS & PARTICIPATION 

JEANITE VOLUNTEERISM  

 

Teens for Jeans - During January and February, our Jeanites participated in Teens for Jeans, a campaign that collects jeans for homeless teenagers.  The result was 107 pairs of jeans collected and donated to a worthy cause. 
  

85 Acts of Kindness - To commemorate SJB's 85th Anniversary, our students are participating in the 85 Acts of Kindness program.  Each homeroom is committed to completing 85 good deeds by May and many homerooms have met or exceeded their goal and are still going!  Kind acts range from tutoring young children, collecting jeans for other teenagers, fundraising for Autism, to holding doors open for others and letting someone get in front of them on line.

STUDENT EVENTS

 

Christmas Cabaret - The Auditorium saw a packed house in December for our annual Christmas Cabaret!  The air was filled with excitement and Christmas spirit as family, faculty, staff and friends were treated to amazing dance performances and angelic singing!  

 

Faculty Appreciation Week - Students dedicated an entire week in February to celebrate our dedicated and brilliant faculty and to thank them for all of their hard work during the school year.  Students worked collaboratively to organize different events each day, such as hosting breakfast, specially wrapping chocolate bars and baking and decorating delicious cupcakes!

 

Mean Stinks - Thanks to our 85 Acts of Kindness campaign, SJB was selected as the NY-Metro region satellite school to participate in the Mean Stinks' Biggest Assembly Ever event.  Representing SJB with eloquence and poise were 10th graders, Nnenna Ndukwe and Julissa Manzanet.  The Biggest Assembly Ever is an annual national event focused on addressing bullying and activities that students are engaging in to eradicate the issue in their schools.  Over 1,000 schools across the country watched the event which was streamed live, including our Jeanites who gathered into the auditorium and supported their classmates!

 

10th Graders, Nnenna Ndukwe & Julissa Manzanet - Mean Stinks Student Speakers

Dorothy Rieger Forbes '38

Dorothy happily reports that she is doing well and now living in Northport, NY with her wonderful daughter, Virgina.

Rita Gannon Powers '40

Rita writes to share that she and Sr. Rose Daly, '40 are still great friends!  They met in the 1st grade and attended SJB through high school graduation!  They stay in touch and chat every chance they get.

Mary Gilhooly '45

Mary is doing well and excited to attend the 2015 Reunion - which marks 70 years since the Class of '45 graduated!

Georgia Schneller Priebe '45

Georgia is now retired from her career as a Director of Religious Education.  She is an active volunteer at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown, New York.  She and her husband had six children and she is enjoying being a grandmother to six grandchildren!

Joan Rufino Curr, '49

Joan's beloved husband passed, James, away last year on 2/1/14. They were happily married for 59 years. They had three children and now Joan is enjoying her four grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren - all the family lives in Florida.  She tought CCD for 5 years and currently brings the Holy Eucharist to the homebound in her community. She retired to an Independent Living Facility and even started a Rosary Prayer Group that meets once a week in the facilty. Joan continues to remember the great and lasting impression of her time at St. Jean's.

Christina Metz Muldoon, '49

Christina is doing well!  She was unable to attend the 2014 Reunion but sends her best to the SJB community!  She thinks upon the great times she had at SJB often.

Eileen McDermott McCormack, '52

Eileen, a medical doctor, is now enjoying retirement in sunny and warm Florida!

Audrey Tremblay Sturges, '54

Audrey is doing well, but asks that the SJB community pray for her beloved husband, Frank, who passed away on September 14, 2014.

Maria Chimienti, '59

Maria writes that she and her husband, Joe are doing well and busy with their 6 grandchildren, 5 girls and 1 boy.  They are wonderful and healthy and she sends her love to SJB.

Susan A. Vlamis '62

Susan launched her professional photography website: www.suzannevlamis.com.  The website also showcases her video productions.  As an environmental photographer, she focuses on endangered species and indiginous cultures and earth's natural wonders.

Cynthia Ritter, '63

Cynthia is greatly enjoying her retirement from The Rockefeller University (she retired 7 years ago) and has been traveling.  She just returned from a cruise on the Danube River where she visited Amsterdam, Germany, Austria and Budapest.  The highlight of the trip was celebrating Christmas mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.

Nora P. Pastula '66

Nora reports that she is happily living in Allentown with her husband, Richard, and "one crazy cat"!  She is enjoying retirement after 47 years of working and is now focused on reading all the books she has saved for this time in her life.  An additional hobby includes making baby blankets for her church and close friends and family with new arrivals. She is looking forward to celebrating her 50th SJB graduation anniversary next year and sends her warm wishes to all!

Fran Yule-Rappa, '72

Fran writes that she is still working at New York Presbyterian Hospital (her first job) and has been for the past 41 years!  She has her sights set on retirement in 2016 and has recently joined the parish choir at Queen of Angels Church in Sunnyside, Queens, where she sings alto.  She thanks Sr. Anna Romano for teaching her to love singing!

Erica Ramos, '04

Please click here for more details or contact Laura Gutierrez Campbell, Director of Institutional Advancement at (212) 288-1645 or lcampbell@stjean.org with any questions.