Hello Eagles! (Matt Ws last 20 years)

Up until a week ago, I did not even realize this would be the year of the 20 year reunion. Life has a funny way of doing that . I was in La Jolla for a few days for my little brother Mark's Bachelor Party Weekend ( since when did these things go from 1 night to a 4 day weekend?). I was able to meet up with Bruce Roberts, who I had not seen in a couple years, and he asked me if I had seen the Reunion website.

In that moment, I had a flurry of flashbacks to those days up in the hills..... putting Johanek's car in the student center one summer night, my first "box" of wine at the park behind the big campus, running to catch the RTD after school at the little campus, and all of relationships I had with everyone; the good, the indifferent, and the interesting ones.

As with everyone, there is so much that has happened in 20 years in my life. After the 'Nade, I made a valient attempt to go to college, but my post high school desire for instant gratification kept me chasing one career after another. I spent several years trying to join various police departments, was one signature away from joining the navy, considered psychology, acocunting, and several other career paths.

Strangely enough my future was impacted by my ties to Chaminade 4 years after our graduation. In 1990 I was coaching Frosh Football at the 'nade. During that time I met a girl named Sandy who eventually became my wife. She was 1 year out of Agoura High School and freinds with then senior Amy Cook. We began dating and working together at the Museum of Flying / DC-3 Restaurant. We were married in 1994. Shortly thereafter I entered into the career I have done the past 13 years. We now have 2 AWESOME kids - Kaitlin (7) and Madison (4). Out first home was 1/2 mile from Chaminade in West Hills. We have lived in a great house up in the hills of Agoura Hills for the past 5 years.

I work for Classic Party Rentals. I am the GM of their Culver City location. They currently operate 24 stores from the west coast through the south and to the east coast. Simply, we are a party rental company. We do everything from movie premieres and awards shows to simple back yard parties. If you graduated from a major university in LA you probably sat in one of our chairs. We don't make the food or provide the flowers or organize the party - we provide all the "stuff" you would need. Cooking equipment, tenting, staging, lights, dancefloors, tables, chairs, china, linen, etc are the things we provide our clients. (If you need anything for the White house party or the family picnic- send me an email). Bottom line - it's a fast paced & challenging industry and I love the work. Its long hours but fun to be a part of.

Well thats 20 years in 5 paragraphs...... does not quite capture it all. As the reunion gets closer, let me know if you need any help. My schedule is pretty crazed, but since I am local, I should be able to help with something.

I look forward to catching up with everyone that weekend. If you are local and want to set something up before hand let me know.

Good Luck to all. See you soon.

Bonjour from Sue Dolan Gradascevic

Hi all.

Thanks to Lisa, Carol and Amy for putting all this together! I'm really looking forward to the reunion, it should be a real laugh. Carol asked that we suggest some teachers to invite, so I wracked my brain to even remember who my teachers were and those I could come up with were Mr. Johanek (of course), Mr. Lynn, Mr. Rauser (I think he even still teaches at the junior high), and Mr. Valentine. And for Lisa, who asked for music suggestions, I felt obliged to request Billy Idol. I can't think about high school days without thinking of Billy Idol.


A very brief recap on my past 20 years - 4 great years at LMU with Jill Tregillis, Mindi Comunale and Sandy Rodgrigues, an MBA from Pepperdine, and an MIB from Pepperdine that brought me to Paris back in 1996. I've pretty much been here ever since but with lots of trips back home and 18 months in Geneva, Switzerland. I work for a French asset manager as a global equity specialist and have travelled quite a bit around Europe, especially Scandinavia, with my job. My husband and I met about 9 years ago at my previous job and we were finally married in Paris last summer. Our son Keenan was born 2 months ago.


We are moving back to LA this summer as I'm lucky enough to be transferred with my job to our US subsidiary that happens to be based in downtown LA. So my son can grow up with the Pacific Ocean at his backdoor, something I took for granted until moving here. The closest beach is about 2 hours away, the sand is actually small rocks, and it's sunny maybe 2 months out of the year! Vive l'Amerique!


Cheers,
Sue

Update from Jill Tregillis

Hello all. I am alive and well, living in Manhattan Beach with my husband Tom and 3 yr old daughter Kate.

I married Margaret Bacon's older brother. Imagine how shocked poor Margaret was when Tom told the family he was marrying me. I wasn't exactly sweet in high school. I think I am a pretty good sister in law though, at least they keep me laughing. Anyone that knew the Bacon family knows what incredibly kind and generous people they are, and they are really funny.

I work for a large public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. I am based in downtown Los Angeles, but I have spent quite a bit of time traveling. I lived in NYC for a few years, and spent a lot of time in DC and Houston. I specialize in oil and gas, and was very impacted by the collapse of Enron and the reform of the securities market filing requirements. The work is demanding, but it is rewarding. Tom is corporate attorney in Century City. His work is demanding too, but he really enjoys it.

Margaret keeps me posted on the happenings of her friends, and Sue Dolan keeps me posted on her group, so I have kept in touch informally with so many people. I look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.

Jill

Hello to All from Lisa Macias

Hey Everyone! It is so much fun to read about all of you. Thanks to those of you who have posted, and to those of you who will be posting soon! Unlike some of you. I feel like it's been more than twenty years! Maybe it's the sleep deprivation brought on by my incredible, rambunctious, hilarious children. My four year old, Brady, three year old, Frankie and eleven month old baby Anna keep me busier than I ever could have imagined. I am at home full time raising my brood. Before Brady was born, I was a teacher with LA Unified, a job that I loved. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in psychology, and working for various non-profits, I did some traveling. Then I earned my teaching credential, National Board Certification, Administrative Credential and Masters in Educational Administration. Education was a great fit. It allowed me to continue my passion, travel. I've seen most of the fifty states, and many different countries. I traveled extensively through Mexico and loved it!

And now, I am looking forward to October. I will celebrate my seven year anniversary with my wonderful husband Michael, a fellow Bruin, and I will see you all at the reunion! Does any one have any eighties songs that you would like to hear? Let us know. We will forward all requests along to Richard Blade. Any teachers you would like to invite? I hope to see Mr. Valentine. Any fluorescent clothing, torn sweatshirts or legwarmers? It's time to get rid of them!

Hello! from Carol Phalen

Hello! It's been a while. I can't wait to see everyone...in my mind you all look like 17 year olds! I hope to be brief, I just want to start a conversation and get folks talking.

But first, a quick synopsis of the past 20 years... I graduated from CSUN with a marine biology degree, which really did not prepare me for my first career as District Manager for Blockbuster Video. After having enough of retail, I decided to go back to school to get my masters in marine biology. Plus, it was nice having summers off again! After graduating, I worked for an aquarium company for seven years in research and development and now, I am a part time science teacher to 4th graders. I am married to a fellow '87 Eagle, Tom Molnar, and we live in Chatsworth with our 13 month old daughter. So much to talk about...we'll talk in October!

Have you broken out your yearbook yet?? The memories come flooding back! 1987 was so long ago, but flipping through the pages, it seems like just yesterday! What is your favorite memory of high school?

What teachers should we invite? One of my votes goes to Frank Johanek and of course, I would love to see Mr. and Mrs. Reeves. Who do you want to invite?

I am looking forward to catching up with everyone in October!! Cheers!

Keep blogging...it's fun to see what everyone is up to!

Mike Ricci's last 20 years

Holy cow, I can't possibly be old enough to be having a 20th high school reunion... more has now happened since high school than happened before/during high school!

After graduation I went on to Caltech (studying electrical and mechanical engineering) and lived the "Real Genius" lifestyle... 4 of the hardest and most remarkable years of my life... (that is until the first baby arrived in 2003!) Kept up with the technical theater stuff in college, much to the detriment of my grades...

Grad school at UCSB followed-- after 4 years at Tech I needed some time on the beach! Left UCSB in '93 with a Master's degree to join a theme park engineering company in Camarillo, but stayed on living in the SB paradise and commuting south until '98, when I moved to Moorpark, followed 2 years later by Thousand Oaks, then Newbury Park, and now I'm in Camarillo.

The theme park biz was great fun-- got to work on Terminator 2 3D @ Universal Studios, Lance Burton's Magic show and Treasure Island in Las Vegas and a few other Vegas shows, some Disney stuff, etc. etc. In my (almost nonexistent) free time I mountain biked, hiked and rock climbed. Also started playing guitar at the UCSB student Catholic church.

The theme park biz is fun (where else can an engineer have their work applauded by cheering crowds, and get to work with fun, crazy artist types all the time! And I love show biz from my theater days.), but the hours and pay stunk, and the finances for a small company in the biz are always shakey... the company ran out of money (went bankrupt) in 2000, I consulted for a year (with even worse hours!), and finally went to work for a small cutting edge engineering company founded by one of my UCSB profs. (www.launchpnt.com if you are interested-- doing all kinds of crazy stuff from implantable heart pumps, maglev transportation, magnetic launch systems, energy storage, blah blah blah-- much cooler engineering, but much less fun to talk about to non-nerds than the theme park stuff!)

I met my wife Margaret in 2000 -- friend of a friend of a friend deal... She's a protein chemist at Amgen and was also working weekends as a church organist when I met her. We got married in 2002 and lived in Newbury Park until a year ago we moved to Camarillo. Spent our weekends playing in a church band at the local Lutheran church where she was organist. She's an amazing instrumentalist. I'm still not much of a guitar player (after all these years... don't have much natural talent), but it was a small church so they couldn't complain! We did a lot of backpacking, biking, camping, swing dancing, and skiing while dating and first married year.

A scant 10 months after getting married our first boy arrived (Luke), and while we were still in a sleepless daze from that, Quinn arrived 16 months later! We hit our first wedding anniversary with a 2 month old, and our 4th anniversary with 2 kids! Not the recommended procedure, I will tell you, but hey, the kids are really close to each other and (now) play really well together!

Having moved out from the east coast for her Amgen job, Margaret wasn't ready to quit when Luke arrived, so I reduced my work day down to 2 days a week in the office (small, flexible companies are awesome!) and a lot of working from home in the evenings to become a most-time stay-at-home dad. First two years with 2 kids was the hardest thing I've ever done-- made Tech and 110 hour weeks in the Theme Park biz look easy. Now Luke and Quinn are almost 4 and 2-1/2 and we're having a lot of fun-- swim lessons, gymnastics classes, play dates and so on.

The kids have been the death of most of our outside activities. I did take up kiteboarding just before Luke was born, and managed to get decent at it before Quinn arrived. Since then the occasional bike ride is all the exercise I get, and we've given up church music and dancing for the time being. We're hoping to get back to the camping soon (potty training is almost done!) and we *have* managed some ski trips every year.

It's really cool to see what everyone has been up to! And a lot easier to type once than repeat 50 times at the reunion! Keep posting your blogs!

Mike Ricci

Hello from Eric Nesheim

Dont hit enter too soon. So goes my last 10 years of battling these computers. I can remember the computer class in 8th grade on some of the first macs and how they were still trying to figure out what to do with them, now I couldnt imagine running a business without one.

After bailing from Chaminade in 10th grade and pursuing a rock and roll lifestyle for the next year, I ended up back in school and making up 2 years my senior year. The next year I bounced around at different jobs in LA and tried my own place in North Hollywood. SCARY. 6 weeks of that and I was ready for college. I ended up in Arizona at a little private college called Prescott College. Loved it. A bunch of hippies with causes and lots of time for rock climbing and playing music. Graduated in 91 with a degree in communication and counseling. I worked at a youth shelter for a bit. I took a class in construction technology at the local college and have been building things outside ever since.

I spent a couple years in Tucson in the early 90s but just didnt like framing houses in 110 degree weather. So I relocated to Portland for the next 5 years playing music, working and waiting unknowingly till I met my wife. We were married on the beach in Oregon by my dad, took a honeymoon through the redwoods then a year later a trip for 6 month around the country, visited Elvis in New Orleans, family and such. We ended up in Seattle in 99. I started a business, my wife became a doula (birth support partner), we bought a house and have been paying bills ever since.

Currently, I live in West Seattle with my wife of 9 years and our two boys Bennett and Andrew 3 and 8. We make it through the days a little hit or miss. We enjoy hiking, biking and searching for crabs in the rocks. I've run a little construction company since 1999 here in Washington. Most days I enjoy it, not much stress and Im grateful to be outside most of the time. Lately, I have been getting into gardening. I have two hiking trips planned for the summer, one to the top of Rainier and the other a good 4 or 5 day trek through the Olympics, all are welcome.

My parents live in Aptos California where my dad is now a Lutheran minister and my mom runs spiritual groups for women. My brother Mike who went to Chaminade in 7th and 8th is now living in the Valencia area with his wife and 4 kids (Crazy)

Ive checked in over the years to the website to reconnect with some old friends from Chaminade, so far Katie is the only person that I can put a face to the name. My kids and cousins love the Powerpuff Girls, pretty cool. So I hope people keep writing its fun to see what people are up to. Kinda reminds me of the joke, know how to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I would have never imagined how my life would turn out back in the day. Now I cant imagine it any differently. Thanks for opening this up to all who went to Chaminade itll be fun to see who shows up. Anyone remember Tiffany Riley, Daniel Finn, where is Danny Lent, Dave Chemelka so many good people.

Take care,
Eric

Greetings Class of ’87!

It seems like a lifetime ago that we were racing to class, clanking locker doors and experiencing the collective awkwardness we call high school.

I have to say, I honestly don’t miss those days. Don’t get me wrong--I do cherish the life-long friends I have made and still, amazingly, keep in touch with. And, of course, the fond memories of Sal Casola strutting around campus in his Bermuda shorts and Lacoste shirts still put a smile on my face. But the relentless pressure to “fit in”, coping with the rumor mills, bending my brain to understand trigonometry, and experiencing hormonally charged mood swings, are days I do not care to relive.

Now that those days are long behind us, I very much look forward to reconnecting with all of you and catching up on our life journeys.

I’m still very much a dork with a capital “D”. Some things simply don’t change. I graduated from Loyola Marymount University and embarked in a career as a marketing communications professional, which has taken me all over, everywhere from Austin, TX to London, England. For now, I call Seattle my home and have been here for the past five years. I love it up here! It’s cosmopolitan living cradled in breathtaking beauty.

Taking a break from corporate communications, I’m applying my expertise at Village Theatre, a professional musical theatre company based here in the Pacific Northwest. I also enjoy taking on the occasional freelance writing job. I actually worked with Linda Fletcher at Tattoo Savage when she was editor back in the day and have been a contributing writer ever since, profiling emerging artists and penning a tongue-in-cheek column titled “Savage World”.

When I’m not working, I’m mother to my delightfully spirited, spunky little monkey, Zoë, who just turned four. While her father and I are no longer together, we are still good friends and beam with pride over Zoë. You’ll get a chance to meet her at the family picnic. I challenge any of you to out run her (and in some cases, out wit her)!

And when I REALLY have some spare time, I snuggle up with a good book, take in a movie or hike around the city. Oh yes, I seem to also have developed a magazine addiction along the way. But let’s not talk about that. Traveling has become a favorite past time, as well as learning how to cook. Yes, I’m 36 and a complete moron in the kitchen. But I do make a remarkable omelet.

Twenty years is a bit too much to cover here…but that is what conversation is for, right?

Looking forward to catching up and seeing everyone!

Kindest regards,
Jacque Rardin