The Ram Page

December 1, 2023

Bi-Weekly Newsletter for Garces Families, Students, Alumni & Friends

Dec. 7

Foodapalooza

Dec. 8

Holy Day No School

Dec. 11-14

Christmas On Campus

Dec. 15-20

Final Exams

Dec. 21-Jan. 2

Christmas Break

Follow us on our social media sites to stay up to date on the latest updates from Garces Memorial

Garces Memorial High School mourns the recent passing of our beloved Vince Fanucchi.

Mr. Fanucchi graduated from Garces in 1967 and began teaching and coaching on campus in 1974.

Mr. Fanucchi also spent two decades as the athletic director and most recently was the official campus historian until his passing.

This is a great loss for the Garces community and he will be dearly missed. The Fanucchi family, including his brother John, have expressed how much Vince loved Garces.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon our brother Vince.

The Bakersfield Californian wrote a wonderful story on Mr. Fanucchi. Please, give it a read here.

The service for Mr. Fanucchi will be held on Friday, Dec. 15 at OLPH at 2 p.m. with reception to follow in MLH.

All are welcomed to attend.

Our FFA chapter has so much to be thankful for this November. Many honorable achievements have been made, from Bakersfield College to Indianapolis. This month, let's reflect and be grateful for all of God’s blessings and opportunities that He has given us!

To start the month off strong, Garces FFA has yet again taken home the envied Kern Inyo Opening and Closing Sweepstakes Trophy. Our teams were judged on memorization, annunciation, speaking abilities and spent countless hours perfecting their roles. These efforts paid off with nine high placing teams and twelve high individual recipients. Opening and Closing is one of our chapters most anticipated competitions and we are so glad to have the opportunity to take home the Sweepstakes after another year. Thank you to all of our members who participated!

We are so proud to announce that Sophia Camou is the first member to represent Garces FFA at the FFA National Convention. Sophia spent a week in Indianapolis as a delegate making memories that will last a lifetime.

“I recently attended the 96th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis as Garces Memorial’s first delegate. Over the course of this trip I attended business meetings, served on the student voice committee, met the National FFA officers, and made amazing friends," Sophia said. "Whether we were exploring Indy or watching award recipients I enjoyed every minute of my trip and am endlessly grateful for the opportunity to attend this convention. I highly recommend applying to be a delegate and hope that other Rams will be able to attend future National Conferences. I am so thankful for the support I have received from our FFA chapter who made this experience possible for me and hope to attend next year!”

Garces FFA has hosted our first Pizza and Prayer night this month! Our Chaplain, Andy Valdez, planned and helped lead adoration in the chapel with the help of Father David. In addition, our leadership and officer team guided activities and educated our guests on Ram for a Day. Our teams walked students and parents through the three ring agriculture education model, answered questions, and made FFA friendship bracelets. We hope to see those faces again in the barn next school year!

December has a lot in store for us for Garces FFA. Floral Design is selling 50x24 inch Christmas Wreaths. Follow Garces Floral on Instagram @Garcesffafloral for more information. We are so excited for the KI Ag Banking and Water Competition, Christmas Parade and our family Mass. Stay tuned!

Boys Basketball

The Rams opened up the regular season Thursday afternoon in the Morro Bay Tournament with a 70-60 win over Santa Ynez and followed that up Friday morning with a 70-62 win over Atascadero. The Rams have two more games Saturday in Morro Bay and will play in the Lloyd Williams Tournament at North High next week.

Girls Basketball

The Rams are 1-4 through the first two weeks of the season. Garces defeated Mira Monte 31-22 for the first win of the season at the Frontier Tournament and are back in action on Tuesday at Tehachapi.

Boys soccer

The Rams opened up the season on Tuesday with a 3-0 win on the road at Bakersfield High. Jack Bordanave, Abram Villanueva and Maximus Stark scored for the Rams in the victory over the Drillers. The Rams are in action next Fri-Sat in the Garces Soccer Tournament.

Girls Soccer

Garces has began the season with shutout wins this week at home. On Tuesday, the Rams beat BHS 4-0 to open the season. On Wednesday, freshman Karra D'Amato scored three goals in a 6-0 win over Chatsworth-Sierra Canyon. The Rams host Highland on Tuesday and are at San Luis Obispo on Wednesday before playing in the Garces Soccer Tournament next Fri-Sat.

Boys Wrestling

It was a successful opening tournament for the Rams at Clovis West on Nov. 18-19. Four Rams placed with Miguel Montano and Hayden Tadeo taking third in their weight class and Brendon Ko and Jon Arias taking fifth. The Rams are at the Madera South Tournament this weekend.

Girls Wrestling

Kaila Delfin, a state qualifier for Garces last season as a freshman, opened up her sophomore campaign with a fourth place finish at the Redwood Invitational in Visalia last weekend. The girls are at the RM Park Invitational in Porterville this weekend.

Water Polo

What a season it was for the Garces Memorial water polo programs. Both team won Central Section Division II championships at Fresno State on Nov. 11. The girls defeated Tulare Western 11-8 just after the boys defeated Clovis East 13-12 in triple overtime.

Both teams advanced to the CIF Northern California Division III playoffs and won their opening rounds, advancing to the semifinals at University of Pacific in Stockton. The girls fell to Atwater-Buhach Colony 8-5 in the semifinals. The boys defeated San Jose-Archbishop Mitty 12-9, becoming the first Kern County water polo program to play for a regional state championship in a 12-4 loss to Clovis.

Congratulations to both teams on an incredible season.

Stay current with Garces Athletics on social media @GarcesAthletics on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Garces High School is currently in need of a part-time robotics instructor. We are looking for individuals with a strong background in robotics who have a bachelor's degree. Interested candidates should email their resume to Denise Limi at dlimi@garces.org

The Garces Gala Committee is hard at work to create an amazing night on our campus! The Gala will be on Saturday, March 9 in Monsignor Leddy Hall and catered by Garces alumna Lisa Borda '94 of Bord A Petite. We are excited to announce that our Master of Ceremonies and Auctioneer will be Garces Memorial parent Paul Pavletich.

THE MAGIC HAS ALREADY BEGUN...

The Save the Date postcards are on the way - so look for yours in the mail next week. There is a special announcement regarding our "Magic Tickets". Someone will win two tickets to see David Copperfield perform at the MGM in Las Vegas along with hotel accommodations for a two-night stay!

STUDENT PROCUREMENT CONTEST

Every year, Garces asks our students and their families to donate items so that we have a successful auction at the Gala. The contest will begin after we come back from Christmas break, but if you're out Christmas shopping and you spot something - it's not too early to either ask for a donation from a business or to purchase it and donate it yourself. Below is a link to the donation form you can use. The form includes our Tax ID. Garces Memorial is a non-profit organization. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

We are blessed beyond measure with our volunteer committee members for this year's Gala. They are an outstanding group who want to make this year's Gala an exceptional event for the Garces community.

Ingrid Lake '97, Co-Chair

Mia Selvidge '87, Co-Chair

Lisa Andrew '84

Suzie Antongiovanni '97

Jennifer Borba

Terri Collins '72

Lindsay Denison '94

Megan Echeverria '86

Gina Fanucchi

Lauren Helper '98

Sarah Hoekstra

Deanna Lugo

Julissa Maristany

Cindy Meek

Tami Opie '88

Melissa Ortega

Teresa Ramos-Alvarez '78

Raji Sanghera '87

Courtney Tobias '92

Annalisa Townsend

Andrea Weishaar

Jenny Asaro

Lou Ann Durrett

If you are interested in volunteering your time to help in some way with Gala, please let us know. Many hands make light work and we welcome everyone who would like to help out. Please reach out to Jenny Asaro, Development Associate at jasaro@garces.org.

2023 Hall of Honor

On Thursday, November 16, the Garces Alumni Board held its 15th annual Hall of Honor awards banquet and honored some wonderful people for all they have done, and continue to do, for Garces Memorial High School. The event was held at Luigi's and Garces Alumni Board Chairman, Gregg Gunner '66, served as the master of ceremonies for the evening. With more than 225 people in attendance, it was a great night celebrating being a Garces Ram!

Proceeds from the Hall of Honor go to the Garces Alumni Scholarship Fund. The scholarship fund provides tuition assistance for children of alumni who need financial assistance to make their dream of being a Ram a reality. This year the scholarship fund is helping 25 students attend Garces. In addition to net proceeds from the event, the Alumni Board also holds a "Dessert Dash" during the awards banquet, and this year, they set another record and raised $25,000 for the Alumni Scholarship Fund. A big shout out to alumni board member Maria Toretta '88 for running another successful Dessert Dash!

Please click on the arrow below and take a moment to watch the 2023 Hall of Honor highlight video to hear from the inductees about what makes Garces the wonderful school it is.

Damon Culbertson

Steve Lewis '64

Rich Romo '70

Jeremy Tobias '8

2023 Alumni Legacy Award - The Mike & Laura Etcheverry Family

Below is a link to the Hall of Honor program. The program includes a brief bio on each of the inductees, a list of the alumni board members, and all our generous event sponsors.

Check out the photos from the event by clicking on the button below.