Alumni News & Notes

Class of 2009 

Dr. Maya Kaul ’09 successfully defended her thesis on March 19, 2024, titled The Making of a Professional: Institutional Logics of Teacher Education and Teacher Professional Identity Formation. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Educational Policy from the University of Pennsylvania in May. Maya’s Ph.D. was supported by dissertation fellowships from the National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Foundation and the Institution of Education Sciences (IES). After graduation, she will be a Postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Class of 2011

Dr. Daniel Rebagliati ‘11 graduated from Albany Medical College in May and will start his Emergency Medicine residency at Stanford Healthcare. He received the SEAM Medical Student Excellence in Emergency Medicine Award and the Arthur Wright Award for selfless contribution to Albany Medical College. As an undergraduate from the University of San Diego, Daniel was recognized as one of the Alcala 100 (top 100 students in the graduating class).

 

Class of 2014

Meaghan Schapelhouman '14 is leaving her position as the ACDS Theatre Arts teacher to head to New York City. We want to thank Meaghan for her time at ACDS and wish her luck in new adventures.

 

Class of 2016

Josefine Ackley ’16 graduated from Bucknell University with a BS in Animal Behavior and plans to work with various wildlife conservation and rehabilitation projects throughout Africa while immersing herself in many cultures worldwide. Then, she will further her animal training experience by working with service dogs and zoo animals.

Ryan Baum ’16 graduated with honors from UC Santa Barbara and will return in the fall to complete his MS in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on electronics and photonics.

Taylor Bazella ’16 graduated with a BA in Strategic Communications and a minor in Film Studies from Chapman University. She was an assistant editor for Chapman’s newspaper, The Panther, and on the Provost List. She will be a film programming intern at the Newport Beach Film Festival this summer.

Connor Cormier '16 graduated as Menlo College’s valedictorian and received the Academic All-American award. He wrestled all four years as a scholar-athlete, had a research internship with Stanford’s Graduate School, and received a fellowship with the County of Santa Clara’s Office of Budget and Analysis. Connor’s plans include completing an internship for Sam Liccardo’s campaign and attending law school.

Jake Davis ’16 graduated from Utah State University with a BS in Psychology. He plans to work for two years and then start a master's program.

Julia Hayden '16 took 18 months away from BYU to volunteer as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, working in the Raleigh, North Carolina, Mission. This summer, she is working as a river raft guide on the Colorado River. Julia spends her free time skiing and roller-skating and looks forward to graduation in 2025.

Juliette Jorgenson '16 graduated summa cum laude from Chapman University. In the fall, she will start her MS in Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of the Pacific. She plans to become a registered dietician.

Nicholas Maranowski ’16 graduated from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign with a BS in Material Science and Engineering and plans to start an MS in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering in the fall after a trip to Europe with friends.

Zack Marks ’16 graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BS in Computer Science. He plans to return to the Bay Area after graduation and work in software development. While at UC Santa Barbara, he played on their ice hockey team.

Kait McLaughlin ’16 graduated from the University of Washington-Seattle with dual majors in Information Sciences and Supply Chain Management and a minor in Data Science. She will work as a Technology Consultant at Moss Adams (Seattle) post-graduation.

Aaron Rossi ’16 graduated with honors from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. After graduation, he will work in investment banking in New York City.

Sidd Sabata '16 graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BS in Data Science and will start his MS in Computational Biology at Carnegie Mellon University this fall. 

Bella Schou '16 graduated from the University of Washington-Seattle in December 2023 with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Law, Society, and Justice. She has spent the last few months studying the Italian language in Rome and traveling throughout Europe after graduating last December. She aspires to become a lawyer and will soon apply to graduate school.

Nick Shaw '16 graduated summa cum laude from ASU’s Barrett Honors College, and will begin a two-year master’s program in Computer Science at DigiPen Institute of Technology, a Redmond, WA-based school focused on video game development and media arts.

Weston Snyder '16 will graduate from Purdue University in December 2024 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and has spent nine months in 2023 working and studying in Germany. He is also a member of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity.

Em Tablak ’16 graduated summa cum laude from San Diego State University and is working as a writer for Mic Magazine as a music and lifestyle contributor.

 

Class of 2017

Alyvia McIntyre ‘17 is a volleyball athlete at Husson University in Bangor, Maine. She was honored at their annual athletics banquet as the women’s volleyball Eagle Award winner as a junior. The Husson Eagle Award is given to student-athletes who demonstrate the qualities of a true “Husson Eagle'' and are exemplary teammates. Alyvia will be back in San Jose for the summer coaching the ACDS summer volleyball camp. 

 

Class of 2020

Zachary Benitez ‘20 graduated from Los Gatos High School and has competed in Speech and Debate at the state and national level. He is writing a book and is the TV Manager and Technical Direct at KCAT TV in Los Gatos. Zachary looks forward to returning home to NYC when he starts school at NYU in the fall. Zachary also honored Mrs. Semichy in his commencement speech from Los Gatos High School.

Bea Butcher ‘20 graduated as a National Honors Society and California Scholarship Federation member. She received Archbishop Mitty High School’s Certificate of Achievement for Academic Excellence for attaining a 4.0+ GPA for the first seven semesters. Bea also enjoyed rowing with varsity women at Los Gatos Rowing Club.

Jamie Cappelletti ‘20 graduated from St. Francis High School and will compete with the NCAA D1 nationally ranked University of Kentucky STUNT team.

Claire Chen ‘20 graduated from Leland High School And is a 2024 National Merit Scholarship finalist. She is a Le Grand Concours (the National French Contest) bronze medalist and placed 3rd in the California High School Speech Association State championship for Original Oratory. Claire was also awarded Boston University’s Presidential Scholarship.

Freddie Cumming ‘20 graduated from Valley Christian High School and will compete on University of the Pacific’s D1 men’s swim team.

Lydia Cumming '20 graduated from Valley Christian High School and will compete on UC Santa Cruz’s D3 women’s swim team

Sean Daly ‘20 played soccer for all four years at Bellarmine and, in his senior year, was awarded the Mario Mastrocola award, named for the high school’s first soccer coach. As a junior, he served on the JW House student board and, in his senior year, was the student board’s president. Sean received the JW Award for creative service and completed the advanced level of the Certificate of Merit for piano with state honors.

Charlie Glasser ‘20 graduated from Pioneer High School with multiple All-Academic Team awards, a California Scholarship Federation scholarship, and a senior class athletic award for Overall Excellence. He was also recognized as a National AP scholar with Honors and received two senior class academic awards. Charlie was a Chemistry and Math tutor, played Varsity basketball for two years, and Varsity golf for four years. He was the captain of his golf team in his senior year.

Katie Hughes ‘20 is the high school Speech and Debate State Champion (Duo Interpretation) and will compete at Nationals in June.She made the SMU Pom Team and will be part of D1 Gameday sports. Katie is also the current president of Archbishop Mitty’s Speech and Debate team and received academic awards in Speech in both her junior and senior years. She spent eight years in theater training and performance with the amazing Starting Arts Dream Team and completed her six-year service journey with the National Charity League. Katie has thrived as a four-year member and choreographer on Mitty’s Royals Dance Team and participated in competitive dance with the prestigious Creative Culture Dance Academy.

Kate Nidome ‘20 graduated from Archbishop Mitty High School with honors. She is an AP Scholar, was on the Principal’s Honor Roll all four years, a Hispanic Scholarship Fund finalist, a member of the National Honors Society, and a California Scholarship Federation lifetime member. Kate was a member of Mitty’s Speech and Debate team all four years, and ranked Top 10 in the nation in Humorous Interpretation in 2023 and 2024, and was a member of Mitty’s sketch comedy group, Pardon My French.

Shruthi Ramanathan ’20 received the Seal of Biliteracy in English and French, was vice president of Presentation High School’s Bella Voce Advanced Choir, and co-captain of the Science Bowl Team. She was also awarded the Case Western Reserve University merit scholarship.

Annabella Rando ‘20 was awarded the National Merit NVIDIA Corporation Scholarship. She received Archbishop Mitty’s Varsity Women’s Volleyball Scholar Athlete Award and will continue her athletic career with Middlebury College. Annabella also received Mitty’s Academic Excellence Award for attaining a 4.0+ GPA for the first seven semesters.

Gabe Songerwala ’20 founded the non-profit Kick It On, which is dedicated to helping local and international underserved youth play soccer by facilitating the collection and distribution of gently used soccer gear and equipment. He received Bellarmine’s Arrupe Distinguished Service Award. Gabe is looking forward to sport fishing trips this summer in Italy, Greece, and Alaska to celebrate his graduation.

Maya Srinivasan ’20 graduated from Notre Dame San Jose with the highest academic honors and will attend Duke University, majoring in Neuroscience. She won Regeneron’s Top 300 STEM scholarship for her research project titled Optogenetically Examining Channelrhodopsin and CsChrimson-Stimulated Locomotive Behavior to Classify “Moonwalker” Stalling Drosophila melanogaster. Her college acceptances include Duke University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Washington Seattle's Honors program, and the University of British Columbia’s Honours program.

Cole Voelkel ’20 received Bellarmine’s Matteo Ricci Award for significant contributions to life in and out of the classroom. He was an assistant coach for the ACDS 7th/8th boys' volleyball team and received an Academic Department Award in Photography.

Ian Voelkel ’20 received Bellarmine’s Matteo Ricci Award for significantly contributing to life in and out of the classroom. He was also awarded a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for outstanding and invaluable service to the community after building a prosthetic hand for the child of a Bellarmine alumni. In his junior and senior years, Ian was an assistant coach for the ACDS 7th/8th boys' volleyball team.

Owen White '20 was one of the panelists for the ACDS Middle School Math Presentation. His reflection, insights, and testimonial helped current parents understand the impact of learning math at ACDS on his success at Harker.

 

Class of 2022

Peter Zhao ‘22 won first place in the 2024 Los Altos Hackathon. It is the largest high school hackathon with 350 teams of three to six students participating in the 24 hour event.