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WINTER 2010 St. Pius X High School 5301 St. Joseph’s Dr. NW WINTER 2010 Albuquerque, NM 87120-1712 (505) 831-8400 C o n t e n t s www.saintpiusx.com AdmINIsTRATION Principal Fine Arts at SPX . 1 Barbara Rothweiler Alumni in Art . 3 Assistant Principal - Academics Endowments Barbara Neff Ducaj ’79 Class of 2005 Ryan D. Beaulieu Memorial Endowment. 6 Jacob Candelaria ’05 and Giving . 7 Assistant Principal - Instruction Orlando Rodriguez Homecoming. 8 Reunions . 10 Assistant Principal - Dean of Students Alumni . 11 Dr. Lillian Torrez Business Manager Allen Jackson LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL Advancement and Alumni Office Director Libby Sanzero Dear Friends: Assistant Director Becky Montoya-Ballou SPX athletics is synonymous with success, and the St. Sebastian Gymnasium trophy cases are filled with evidence of achievements. Administrative Assistant However, there is an equally powerful story to be told in the arts at Julia Ortega Roybal St. Pius X. Our vibrant arts curriculum celebrates the rich artistic Communications legacy of Catholicism, and students are drawn closer to their faith as Jo Salway they experience God's creation in their work. sPX FOuNdATION Our alumni artists are inspired by the images of our faith, and their BOARd OF dIREcTORs stories are as interesting as their work. As Pope Pius X called us to do, we renew the Church Member by proclaiming the Good News with the work of our hands. We nurture young minds in the The Most Reverend Michael J. Sheehan discovery of their potential, to experience God's truth and beauty through art. Archbishop of Santa Fe President Michael Menicucci ’72 God’s blessings to you, Treasurer Eric Herrera ’90 Secretary Barbara M. Rothweiler Allison Pieroni ’88 Principal Directors Jim Hakeem Lloyd (Lonny) Hurley ’77 Richard Luna Stephen C. Marsico ON ThE cOvER David Meurer WINTER 2010 Alumni Council Chair Gallery of St. Pius X art classes. From top left, editing Ed Larrañaga ’84 photos in photography class, putting finishing touches on the papier mâché skull for the Day of the Dead altar in the multicultural arts class, freshman Faith O’Connell creates a retablo using the traditional material of gessoed maple, drying a retablo in multicultural arts The Quarterly is published by the St. Pius X Advancement class, sophomore Justin Martinez recreates a Mexican and Alumni Office. bark painting, drawing class, junior Laura Penate with her pencil drawing, and sophmore Andrew Hansen. The mission of the Quarterly is to provide alumni and friends of SPX with news, information and inspiration regarding Photos by Michael Knight, photography teacher the school and each other. St. Pius X Quarterly / WINTER 2010 Right: Senior Christian Baca warms up for choreography class. Below: Freshman Justice Otero performs. Above: Seniors Rachel Mondragon and Ashley Lawrence BESTin The Anatomy of Gray. SECRET ON CAMPUS F I N E A R T s Recognizing that fine arts is a cornerstone in educating the whole A theatre technician position was added to the drama department person, St. Pius X offers a strong fine arts curriculum. “The biggest last year. “Andrew McHarney has not only amped up the technical secret on campus is that the fine arts program is busting at the seams. quality of the productions, he is also training students on the latest Students are required to have one semester of fine arts but enthusias- theatre technology,” said Mrs. Hillsey. The drama department tically enroll in more classes. The reaction of the students is positive. presented Disco Inferno, a modern version of Faust, earlier this year Students walk into art class joyful and happy to be there. They are and The Anatomy of Gray by Jim Leonard for the spring dramatic absorbed in the art and stay on task,” said Dr. Trini Lopez, art production. teacher and responsible for the revamping of the art department starting in the late nineties. Visual arts, the hallmark program of the department, has expanded to include additional art exhibition opportunities for student work. To keep up with the interest, fine arts is continually expanding its This year for the first time, student art has been exhibited at offerings in performing and visual arts. the University of New Mexico Hospital and at a special showing during the annual SPX Christmas concert. Work was featured from This year, a new music class, Guitar, was offered along with the the visual arts classes, including studio art, painting, drawing, established instrumental, orchestra, and variety of vocal music printmaking, photography, sculpture, animated and computer art. courses. Patrick Cox, also a theology teacher, instructs the basics of guitar, introducing music styles of blues, classical, flamenco, “We are revamping the computer art and computer animation and popular. The class will be continued next year. “Already there classes, and they will be called digital arts next school year,” said is lots of interest from students,” said Jennifer Hillsey, former fine Mrs. Hillsey. As students learn the technical software, they are able arts chair. to create their own two- and three-dimensional projects in the class. (see page 2) The Dance program started in 2006 when Mrs. Hillsey was told she could offer the class if she could get enough students for one class. A semester of fine arts is required for graduation, and students Enough students for three classes enrolled. Since then a choreogra- have an increasing number of choices of courses. In addition to the phy class has been added, and now students can take four years of performing and visual arts, SPX also offers longstanding courses in dance, which includes ballet, jazz, musical theatre, an overview of architectural and mechanical drawing, music appreciation, film, history, and dance criticism. The dance program has grown in popu- and art appreciation. Advanced Placement Classes in art history and larity. “The recent dance clinic at the school had more participants music theory earn college credit. than ever,” said Mrs. Hillsey. St. Pius X Quarterly • WINTER 2010 1 from the traditional to tomorrow The visual arts tell a story St. Pius X visual arts encompass a range of media: printmaking, painting, sculpture, and photography. Interestingly, the curriculum offers the oldest and the newest ways to express art—the multicultural class connects to deep traditions of the students’ world and beyond while the digital arts classes are forever chasing the latest explosion in computer art technology. These two different approaches have a common purpose—at the heart each is about telling a story. Senior Alexis Santana using the latest technology in computer art class. digital design classes morph to keep pace with technology Computer art technology, like all technology, is constantly changing, and St. Pius X art teacher Jack Davidson has the over- whelming job of keeping up with the latest trends. For next year, the art department has combined the classes Computer Art and Computer Animation into Digital Art I and II. It is not just a change of names; the classes will have a broader focus. Both classes will use the same software so there will be a greater fluency between the classes with a steady progression of skills. The new class will continue to focus on Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. Updates to software have already radically changed the Winter Gibson, freshman, paints her retablo in multicultural arts class. course content from year to year. This year the class used a new version of Flash, software used for games and interactive web design, which introduced three-dimensional art, requiring a whole multicultural arts explore new skill level for students. “The next revolution in graphics will be touch screen. While that might seem easier, the new capabilities art as expression of culture always raise expectations,” said Mr. Davidson. “When teaching visual arts, the best place to start is with the Students come to class with varying levels of skills, but for most student. Begin with the story of the culture and the history of this is an introduction to the graphics software. “While some may his/her environment. For St. Pius X students, it is the Catholic have careers in mind, as they mature, animation will be everywhere tradition combined with the Hispanic heritage which represents and may be a skill needed in just about any job,” mentions Mr. over 55 percent of students,” explains Dr. Trini Lopez, teacher of Davidson. He also hopes that soon the art department will be able the multicultural arts class. Beginning with the religious art of to add an Advanced Digital Art Class. New Mexico, the students first create something from the culture close to home: a retablo, a small devotional painting of a religious “The goal of any art is storytelling,” figure prevalent in New Mexico done on gessoed maple board. It emphasizes Mr. Davidson. Students introduces reverence and veneration of saints who really are what can get caught up in the bells and Dr. Lopez calls “heroes” of the faith. Students must choose either whistles of the technology, but the their own or their families’ patron saint for the retablo. focus of the class is using the element of design to tell a story. Whether the “Historically, Catholics in New Mexico grew up knowing their latest technology was eons ago when patron saint, but so many students now are unaware of this tradi- cave painting was invented or today tion and may have to seek out the information from their families with 3-D animation, the technology or to research a saint that speaks to them,” said Dr. Lopez. supports the idea. Continued on page 12 Teacher Jack Davidson 2 St. Pius X Quarterly • WINTER 2010 Alumni in Art Carving out a place for Pius to worship It started as a coincidence.