The Valley Catholic
catholic schools
CATHOLIC EDUCATION INSPIRES
Notre Dame High Class of 2014
graduates 139 students
Following a Baccalaureate Mass
celebration at the Cathedral Basilica of
St. Joseph, San Jose, Notre Dame High
School graduated its 163nd class in early
June. Among the 139 young women
walking across the California Theater
stage to receive their diploma were
several who earned highest honors.
This designation is conferred on
graduates who have earned a minimum 4.45 weighted GPA and who have
taken a minimum of seven honors and
AP courses. Notre Dame’s valedictoNotre Dame High School (San Jose) gradurian, Mirai Shah, was selected from
ates Isabel Ullmann, Varsha Sathappan and
this group.
Mirai Shah.
Isabel Ullmann, who was awarded
the Julie Billiart Award, delivered the salutatory address. Named for the founder
of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, the Julie Billiart Award is the most prestigious non-academic award given by Notre Dame.
The Margaret Hoffman, SND Woman of Service Award was given to Lily
Nguyen in recognition of her service to others and advocacy for social justice.
Highest honors were awarded to Kaela Crowley, Abigail Heiser, Anh Hua,
Jazleene Elleze Mallari, Sumaya Mulla-Carillo, Holly Nguyen, Tracy Nguyen,
Kimberly Ramos, Varsha Sathappan, Sarah Shaffer, Mirai Shah, Isabel Ullmann
and Jaclyn Woodward.
Class of 2014 Phoenixes have been accepted to colleges and universities including Santa Clara University, UC Berkeley, Tulane University, Harvard, Stanford,
Princeton, Wellesley, Cal Poly, University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of
Business and the University of Chicago.
Presentation debate team takes national spotlight
By Amy Pizarro
Two students from Presentation High
School dominated the National Speech
and Debate Association’s High School
National Tournament in Kansas City in
June. Anna Waters, who recently graduated, and junior Amy Elzarka teamed up
to earn the ranking of 10th best Public
Forum team in the country.
Waters and Elzarka sailed through
the preliminary rounds and then proceeded to win five of seven elimination
Presentation High’s Amy Elzarka (left) and
rounds in a tournament that included
Anna Waters (right) triumphed at national
382 teams from across the United States.
speech and debate competition. (Photo by
The Presentation duo debated the topAndrea Cartwright)
ic, “Resolved: NATO should strengthen
its relationship with Ukraine in order to deter further Russian aggression.”
Because the situation in Ukraine is so unstable, preparation and revision were
constant, and the students even had to adjust their arguments each day of the competition to reflect the reality of that unfolding situation.
“After every round, during which use of the Internet is not permitted, the girls
would check to see if anything important had happened,” said Speech and Debate
Coach Dan Meyers.
“For example, when Russia decided to call all the gas loans it gave to Ukraine due
the week before the tournament, we scrambled to have arguments ready that woul