22
June 25, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
Bellarmine College Preparatory Graduates 398 Students
Rob Suarez Memorial Award:
Keanu Lee
Honoring that student who raised
our spirits when we have needed it
most, bringing hope in the midst of
daily struggles. This student represents
the often unnoticed acts of compassion
in our community.
Bellarmine College Preparatory
held its commencement ceremony the
morning of May 25. The graduation of
398 seniors followed a Baccalaureate
Mass held the evening of May 23, with
both events taking place on the San
Jose campus of the school that has been
educating young men in the Catholic
Jesuit tradition since 1851.
The following graduating seniors
are major award recipients:
Cardinal Bellarmine Award: Erik
Luna
Named for the patron of the school,
Saint Robert Bellarmine, it is the high-
est award that our school gives at
commencement and is presented to
that student who has personally in-
corporated the school’s values of faith,
service, leadership, and a passion for
justice in every area of contribution to
the school’s life.
Valedictory Award: Ashwin Pillai
Given to that student who has
achieved academic success, demon-
strated leadership qualities, and has
the ability to express the values of the
school and the spirit of the class at
commencement.
S a lu t a t o r y Aw a r d : R o n a n
MacRunnels
Presented to that student whose
Bellarmine College Prep Class of 2019 participate in the hat toss at graduation. Photo by
Gabe Bider ‘20.
contributions to Bellarmine’s graduat-
ing class has been visible and manifold.
He has represented the life and spirit of
the class through his Christian values
and personal integrity.
Pedro Arrupe Service Award: Eli
Gordon
Named after the 28 th General Su-
perior of the Society of Jesus. It is
presented to that student who has
worked generously and effectively to
translate into action our school’s com-
mitment to the creation of a society
more Godly and just, both locally and
globally.
Jesuit Schools Network Award:
Ryan Remmel
Presented to that student who is
well-rounded, intellectually competent,
open to growth, religious, loving, and
committed to doing justice in generous
service to the people of God.
Ignatius Loyola Award: Brennan
Denzel
Named for the 16 th century founder
of the Society of Jesus and presented to
those students who have internalized
their Christian faith and given over-
whelming evidence of their relation-
ship with God.
Bellarmine Spirit Award: Mark
Nguyen
Presented to those students who
embrace our school’s philosophy of
vision, leadership, and service within
the broad spectrum of Bellarmine’s co-
curricular activities.
Matteo Ricci Award: Samuel Clark,
Cianan Conefrey-Shinozaki, Peter
Deck, Verne Garin, Jesus Gonzalez
Cruz, Kiran Kruse, Antonio Matusich,
Kevin Schmidek, Tyler Vergho, Gabriel
Young
Named after the 16 th century Jesuit
missionary who truly embodied the
Jesuit ideal of finding God in all
things. This award is presented to
those students who have contributed
significantly to life in and out of
t he c lassroom. They have made
lasting contributions to Bellarmine’s
broad spectrum of co-curricular
activities and their engagement in
t he academ ic prog ra m has been
outstanding.
Saint Nicholas Seventh Graders Participate in Mock Trial
Saint Nicholas School is a proud
institution chock-full of unique time-
honored traditions that are built
around the principles of creating
students who are Christ-like citizens,
community leaders, and critical think-
ers. This May marked the 26th an-
niversary of one of the most unique
traditions in the school’s history; the
seventh grade Mock Trial.
The Mock Trial gives students
the opportunity to put their Christ-
like minds, leadership abilities, and
critical thinking skill sets to great
use. The students of Saint Nicholas
would never have had the opportunity
to participate in such an educational
and profoundly thought-provoking
experience if it were not for long time
parishioner and alumni parent the
Honorable Peter Socrates Manoukian.
Judge Manoukian lives for his
family, the law, and educating the
leaders of tomorrow. When he was
appointed to the bench 26 years ago he
immediately reached out to the school
to try to inspire tomorrow’s leaders.
Thus started Saint Nicholas’s Mock
Saint Nicholas seventh graders participate
in a mock trial with Judge Manoukian at the
Superior Courthouse in San Jose.
Trial. The Judge has since invited the
students, parents, and staff into his
courtroom to watch real court pro-
ceedings for the past 26 years. He has
also given the students the platform
to experience a potential Mock Trial.
Over the years, Judge Manoukian
switched from civil court to criminal
court and suggested that, in order
to further educate our students, the
teachers find Mock Trial cases that
hit home to the life lessons and deci-
sions they could face as teenagers
and young adults. The seventh grade
homeroom teachers, therefore, moved
their focus to cases on teenage drink-
ing, drug use, and theft. By bringing
the realities of poor decisions and
un-Christlike behavior into the class-
room, and ultimately the courtroom,
the teachers and students were able
to create an even more profound and
sobering educational experience.
This year Mrs. Von Raesfeld’s sev-
enth grade students embarked on their
Mock Trial preparations at the begin-
ning of May as they were completing
their argument writing and debate
units. Each student was assigned a
position which included: judge, pros-
ecution lawyers, defense lawyers, a de-
fendant, witnesses, bailiffs, recorder/
clerk, and jury members. Each student
had background information on the
case, as well as witness testimonies
to help with depositions and prepa-
rations of opening and closing state-
ments. Mrs. Von Raesfeld guided the
students when needed, but ultimately
just supervised the entire process to
allow creativity and critical thinking
skills to flourish.
On the day of the trial the students,
parents, and some staff members gath-
ered at the Superior Courthouse in
Downtown San Jose to enjoy a day of
watching authentic criminal sentenc-
ing and conducting their own Mock
Trial. The students did an incredible
job executing their trial, right down
to the objections and the quick-witted
cross-examination questioning. Al-
though the students prepared and
rehearsed prior to the big day, many
aspects of the trial are not heard until
the day of, to allow the jury the oppor-
tunity to hear all arguments without
much pre-bias.
The students were elated by the
entire experience and we were grate-
ful for time Judge Manoukian took
out of his schedule to accommodate
this unique lesson. We will continue
to fully immerse our students in au-
thentic learning experiences such as
this Saint Nicholas School tradition.