June 5, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 11Oakland, CA

Tribute to the Class of 2006

Here are some of this year's outstanding graduates of the
Catholic high schools in the Oakland Diocese.
The Catholic Voice salutes them and all graduates
of the Class of 2006.

Bishop O'Dowd High School - Oakland

Ben Gutierrez

College: Harvard
To study: Undecided
Would like to meet: Mahatma Ghandi
Greatest challenge facing the world today: World hunger because it affects so many people and food is a fundamental need for survival.
Solution: Work to get rid of apathy in the U.S.’s young population. Teach students about world hunger in school and get them involved in donating food, money, etc. to help solve this problem.

Andrew Prince

College: Harvard
To study: Political science
Would like to meet: As many different leaders from as many different nations as possible in order to sample different philosophies and ideologies and use them to find my own. I would also like to meet Barry Bonds because he has a quick, powerful swing.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: A lack of cooperation and compromise between the most powerful nations of this world, leading to global tension and strife.
Solution: A change in the fundamental views held by all world leaders. Without the view that we are a global community, versus individual nations competing for supremacy, there will forever be tension and strife which may one day lead to a conflict the world may not recover from.

Carondelet High School - Concord

Brittany Stich

College: Stanford
To study: International relations
Would like to meet: Nelson Mandela, whose eternal dedication to equality, justice and to his people has inspired my own aspirations to become a diplomat. Mandela gave opportunity to an oppressed people, restoring hope in the lives of the disenfranchised.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Industrialized countries have become dependent upon petroleum. This thirst for oil is depleting resources at increasing speed and creating unnecessary potential conflict as nations vie for the finite petroleum currently available. This has and will continue to perpetuate strife and exclusion among industrialized societies.
Solution: A world-wide collaboration to find and utilize alternative energy sources.

Hayley Wheeler

College: UCLA
To study: Undecided
Would like to meet: Pope John Paul II. He was clearly a wise and benevolent man. I’m sure a single conversation with him would offer a lifetime of valuable thought.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Too many people are unwilling to take personal responsibility for their actions – either because of ignorance or a lack of integrity.
Solution: As Emerson wrote, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Thus, I think a large part of this challenge could be overcome by cultivating critical thought in an improved public education system.

De La Salle High School - Concord

Anders Ericson

College: The Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon
To study: English
Would like to meet: The homeless man I see every day. I pick him over world leaders and famous authors because I think that our meeting would be more meaningful. I’d like to know this man’s story, not the misconception gathered by seeing only his outward appearance.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Intolerance towards gays and lesbians. This problem is on the same level as racism. I find it hard to understand how people can hate someone for something that they didn’t choose, and completely discredit any contributions that that person made to society.
Solution: If we stop looking for excuses to hate, we will see all the reasons that there are for us to accept and love. So I say question, protest, speak out, keep an open mind about yourself and everyone that you meet, and don’t talk about loving everybody unless you really mean everybody.

James Kildunne

College: UC San Diego
To study: Undecided
Would like to meet: Jon Stewart because the Daily Show is my favorite television show. He is always willing and able to make a joke out of anyone or anything. I can sometimes get insights into current events simply by laughing at them.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: The lack of respect people show each other. Too often people are not shown the courtesy that they deserve. If people gave each other the dignity they are owed, I believe many of the conflicts the world faces today could be solved.
Solution: To honor everyone’s personal value. Sometimes, it is hard to get past people’s race, religion, or gender, but to be able to recognize their humanity is to recognize their value. Other than that, it is important to not take everything so seriously.

Holy Names High School - Oakland

Sara Coyle

College: Northeastern University
To study: Engineering
Would like to meet: Mahatma Gandhi. I have always been inspirited by his steadfast morals and his teachings of nonviolence. I admire how he made a difference in a difficult situation without having to compromise himself. I am particularly inspired by his words to “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Greatest challenge facing the world today: AIDS pandemic. AIDS has killed numerous people and it continues to harm many others. I believe this is the greatest challenge because many people continue to become infected even though it can be avoided and treated.
Solution: Work toward a cure while continuing to educate people about AIDS. It is important that people realize how to stop the spread of AIDS and give support in the treatment of others.

Ashley Lekwauwa

College: New York University
To study: Political science
Would like to meet: Oprah Winfrey. She is a strong, influential woman and gives women a role model. Her ability to connect with people and change their lives is what I admire most about her.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Greed due to most people’s quest for acquiring more money and possessions. We are unable to help those around us who are most in need.
Solution: Education. Educating people about the problems many people throughout the world are experiencing unnecessarily will empower them to make a change in their attitudes and actions.

Moreau Catholic High School - Hayward

Drew Paran

College: UC Berkeley
To study: Chemical engineering
Would like to meet: God because He is all knowing and has the answers to all problems. Meeting God would be like meeting every person.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Too much competition. When people become too competitive, they become selfish and no longer care about others.
Solution: Eliminate the system of competition in the education process. If people learn to live and learn without competition, their competitive natures won’t control them.

Stephanie Vanegas

College: Santa Clara University
To study: Business
Would like to meet: Archbishop Oscar Romero because his values are similar to my own. He was a great leader for the Salvadorian people, instilling hope and faith in a time of despair.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Lack of compassion and ignorance toward others.
Solution: With compassion in the world, we would have less violence and hatred. We need to promote compassion and live it out in our daily lives.

St. Elizabeth High School - Oakland

Flor Bueno

College: Saint Mary’s College of California
To study: Pre-med
Would like to meet: Bill Gates because his foundation gave me a scholarship and I would like to thank him personally.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: A lack of justice for people forced to migrate from their home country to another, either for work or because of war and hardship.
Solution: Advocate for setting up a research foundation that would establish just guidelines for immigration and work programs for eligible migrants so that they would ge able to contribute and not drain the economic system.

Rostini Gomez

College: Cal State Long Beach
To study: Liberal arts
Would like to meet: My grandpa because he influenced my mom and aunts and uncles so much. I wish I could have learned everything from him that they did.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: The widening gap between the rich and the poor. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
Solution: Work towards redirecting funds currently invested in the war effort to programs that would help to bridge the gap.

St. Joseph Notre Dame High School - Alameda

Joanna Mooney

College: University of Wisconsin, Madison
To study: Mechanical engineering/art
Would like to meet: Frank Lloyd Wright because he was one of the most innovative and creative people in the last century, from my point of view. He was proud of his work and was not afraid to self-promote, which is a good quality to have in an artistic business.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Increasing trend towards materialism – caring about accumulating wealth more than cultivating relationships with other people. Too much competition drives people apart.
Solution: One solution would be for people to develop a better relationship with God or some sort of religion to help put things into perspective and take the focus off of materialistic gain.

Paulani Mui

College: UC Berkelely
To study: Immunology
Would like to meet: The 12 Girls Band. They play a mix of traditional Chinese songs as well as American songs on a variety of Chinese musical instruments – erhu, gu-zheng/zither, Chinese flute, pi-pa, etc. Why? Because I play the zither/gu-zheng. These girls are models of the Chinese culture and hope to keep it alive through their music. In general, I want to meet people who aren’t afraid to stand up and just be themselves.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Preventing the overuse and/or destruction of natural habitats by human activities.
Solution: Respect one’s surroundings, not wasting one’s resources and respecting nature as it is, not trying to conform it to one’s own wants/needs, building homes away form animals’ habitats, carpooling and finding other ways to prevent/lessen pollution, oil shortages, etc.

St. Mary's College High School - Berkeley

Jacqueline Burbank

College: University of Southern California
To study: International relations
Would like to meet: Nelson Mandela because he embodies an individual who not only dedicated his life to the cause of civil rights, he went to prison for 27 years for continually espousing his views. He is an influential humanitarian and the most revered black leader in South Africa and throughout the world.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: World hunger. Over nine million people die worldwide every year because of hunger and malnutrition. Five million of these people are children. It is not that there is a lack of food, but a lack of incentive to get food to those who need it most.
Solution: There is no solution; however, if we were to regulate food and resource consumption in the wealthiest nations and create an organization with the sole purpose of taking excess food from these nations and distribute it to nations with extreme poverty, we would begin to eradicate this problem.

Stephen Renner

College: Air Force Academy
To study: Engineering
Would like to meet: Lance Armstrong because he holds to the same level of determination I like to maintain and has used his success to better the world.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: The lack of global unity.
Solution: We need a United Nations that isn’t afraid to stand up for injustice and countries that respect it enough to obey.

Salesian High School - Richmond

Kimberly Chu

College: UC Berkeley
To study: Cell and developmental biology
Would like to meet: Jackie Chan. His skills and talents are a martial artist never cease to amaze me. I draw a lot of my inspiration from him as I train for my adult first degree black belt. I hope that through my dedication I can be as successful as he is.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Decline in morality. The focus is on individuals. It’s always about “me” and what “I” want. It doesn’t matter if it is morally wrong or a sin in God’s eyes, all that matters is that people are having fun and enjoying life.
Solution: People need to turn back to God and the Scriptures. We need to call sin what it is and deal with our sins instead of hiding or ignoring the fact that we are sinners who are in need of God and his laws.

Andrew Rodriguez

College: UC San Diego
To study: Biology
Would like to meet: Kiefer Sutherland, Mac Dre, e40, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cesar Chavez, Ghandi, Coldplay, Kanye West, Walt Disney.
Greatest challenge facing the world today: Fear. People are afraid of doing things differently. Most are not willing to do something they have never done before.
Solution: Take risk. Life is full of obstacles. The more risks you take, the stronger you will be.

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