NeWSLETTER

A Pilgrim’s Journey — Lent 2025
The theme for Lent is “A Pilgrim’s Journey.” Every pilgrimage we take is a journey to the heart. Please join us on Wednesday evenings at 5:30pm in the Blessed Edmund Rice Chapel for our Lenten Mass Series. The priests scheduled to lead our celebrations are: Fr. German Rodriguez on April 2, Fr. John McGarry on April 9th and Fr. Ron Shirley on April 16th. Please make plans to attend.

Start Your Day in Prayer
Come join us on school day mornings at 7:30am for prayer and community. On some days we will have Mass. All are welcome. Note that there is no morning service on Lenten Mass days (Wednesdays through April 16).

Palma's Community Service Opportunities
• Mondays — Prison Ministry at CTF Soledad from 3:00pm to 6:00pm.
• Wednesdays — Palma students are invited to tutor students in elementary school at Sanchez Elementary. The van leaves after school from the chapel and returns by 4:30pm. Download the permission slip. (Looking for parent driver.)
• Thursdays — Palma students are invited to visit with residents at Madonna Gardens.The van leaves after school from the chapel and returns by 4:15pm. Download the permission slip. (Looking for parent driver.)
• Fridays — Food service at Dorothy’s Kitchen from 12:00pm to 2:30pm.
• Fridays — After school tutoring from 2:45pm to 4:15pm.

Logging in Your Community Service Hours
Community Service hours should be logged using students' gopalma email on X2VOL. Students may see Mr. Beesley or Brother Mac for more information. Log in at https://www.x2vol.com/index.html

Chieftains in Action
Friday, March 21^st was National Tamale Day. Palma students Robert Schroeder ’26, Ciera Carrllo ’28 and Collette Paden ’28 made tamales with the residents at Madonna Gardens in Salinas!

Pray for Mission Mexico Volunteers
A group of 19 high school Chieftains, along with some faculty and chaperones, will be traveling to Mexico to build a house for a family in need. Please keep their success and safety in your prayers they while represent Palma on this important mission between April 5th and 10th.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Jacob’s Heart - Deliver groceries, decorate cards and grocery bags, assist staff with office tasks, etc. — CLICK HERE

All in Monterey County - Food drives every Wednesday. ALL-IN Drive Through Market at Seaside High School at 4:30pm until supplies run out. Volunteers help gift bounties of food to our guests as they drive through. — CLICK HERE

Blue Zones Project - Live longer, better. Encouraging changes in our community that lead to healthier options. — CLICK HERE

Save Our Shore - Foster thriving and sustainable ecosystems in the Monterey Bay and surrounding habitats through equitable environmental action. — CLICK HERE

Dorothy’s Place - Essential services and transitional support to people experiencing the injustice of homelessness and extreme poverty. — CLICK HERE

Seaside Parks - The city of Seaside schedules volunteer maintenance on selected parks throughout the year from 10am to 12pm. Bring your gloves, water and snacks. For schedules and their volunteer form — CLICK HERE

Visit the STUDENT OUTREACH page on our website for more volunteer opportunities. Do you know about an upcoming service opportunity? Contact Mr. Beesley at beesley@palmaschool.org.

Prayers and Props
The Campus Ministry page on our website has short forms for Prayers and Props that allow you to share a Chieftain accomplishment that happened outside of school or submit a prayer request. Visit our web page (or use the button below) to share your props or to request prayers to be offered up during Palma’s Masses and Chapel Time. 

Winter Sports PCAL All-League Selections
Palma is proud of the hard work and dedication of these student-athletes.

Girls Basketball
Frankie Rossi ’25 – First Team
Natalia Aguon ’28 — Second Team
Miyah Nickerson ’28 — Sportsmanship

Girls Soccer
Izabella Tejeda ’25 — First Team and Offensive Player of the Year
Allison Guerra ’25 — Second Team
Elizabeth Fuqua ’25 — Sportsmanship

Girls Wrestling
Bella Sando ’28 — Second Team
Emma Munoz ’28 — Second Team

Boys Basketball
Soren Roberts ’25 — First Team
Tai Suich ’27 — First Team
JJ Saucedo ’26 — Sportsmanship

Boys Soccer
Isidro Hernandez ’25 — First Team and League MVP
Sebastian Sanchez ’25 — First Team
Giovanni Gutierrez ’25 — First Team
Skyler Reyes-Espinola ’25 — First Team
Eli Dukes ’27 — Second Team
Eduardo Calderon ’28 — Second Team
Luis Chavez ’25 — Second Team
David Garcia ’26 — Second Team
Brady Amaral ’25 — Sportsmanship

Boys Wrestling
Aiden Garcia ’27 — First Team, PCAL Champion 113 lb
Danny Witting ’26 — First Team, PCAL Champion 120 lb
Christian Ramirez ’25 — First Team 126 lb
Isaiah Rangel ’25 — First Team, PCAL Champion 165 lb
Eliart Manzur ’27 — First Team, PCAL Champion 175 lb
Jacob Martinez ’28 — First Team, PCAL Champion 190 lb
Eastin Sanford ’28 — Second Team 106 lb
Rocco Fanucchi ’27 — Second Team 144 lb
Rocco Orlowski ’27 — Second Team 157 lb
Damien Lopez-Regalado ’26 — Second Team

Attention Golf Fans
Join us for the annual Palma Athletics Golf Tournament on Friday, May 2 at the Pasadera Country Club (see the flyer below for details).

Athletic Council
The Athletic Council usually meets the first Monday of each month at 5:30pm in the Cislini Study Center. The Council is responsible for providing support for all junior high and high school sports, since no tuition dollars are used for athletics. You are invited to join us. Whether your sport is in or out of season, we would like at least one parent representative from each team in attendance.

Get Involved
There are a variety of ways the Palma community can participate at athletics events and we can never have too many volunteers. From helping out at games to providing the many hands needed at fund raising events, Palma parents and friends are the ones who make athletics happen for our Chieftains. 

You can find daily athletic update on my Twitter feed at @CoachBishop. I tweet upcoming game times for all sports each week as well as results and other fun information regarding Palma and Palma Athletics.

SCOIR
In January, juniors were introduced to SCOIR. They created their accounts and parents were sent an email to link to their child’s account. SCOIR is an amazing platform that allows students to better understand the college application process. It gives students an in-depth look at their personal interests and how that applies toward selecting a major. Students are able to do a career interest inventory as well to help select majors that interest them. It provides personalized college selections based on preferences, family income, and much more. Parents have unique access to SCOIR as well. As a parent, you will be able to view your child’s profile, see their college list, conduct your own college searches, and suggest colleges for your son or daughter to consider. SCOIR also provides parents with financial tools so that you can get a better sense of the cost of attendance at various colleges during the selection process. The goal is that it becomes an all-in-one college hub for students to utilize for letters of recommendation, college applications, test scores, and so much more.

After the FAFSA — What Happens Next?
All seniors should have received their FAFSA Submission Summary and their EFC (Expected Family Contribution). The EFC is what the Department of Education expects a family to contribute yearly to the student’s college financial aid costs. This figure is calculated from the prior year’s tax information. Did you know that a family could ask that the EFC figure be changed? This is done through a financial aid term, "Special Circumstance." Many families’ situations change from year to year. Has someone in your family lost their job? Has someone had his or her hours cut? Have there been unusually high medical bills? These, and more, are valid reasons for changing the EFC figures. Families must send documented, written statements to the financial aid offices at each of the colleges/universities to which your student is applying. The Financial Aid Officers are allowed Professional Judgment to look at each of the cases and make a determination as to allow or disallow these changes to the tax figures or other areas on the FAFSA. Remember that most financial aid offices are very small compared to the number of submission summaries they must sort through to award aid at their institutions and most work is done through automation. If you are sending in documentation for Special Circumstance consideration, you must be persistent! Keep a record on what was sent, date and time of calls to the office, who you spoke with, and what information was given to you as follow-up to your request. There are free helpful web-based tools out there to help you better understand the financial aid process. Visit Simple Tuition (www.simpletuition.com) for more information on financial aid.

CSU Early Start Program
The CSU system has a policy known as “Supportive Pathways for First-Year Students Program” requiring incoming students who do not demonstrate readiness for college-level math and/or English to begin remediation during the summer before coming to the CSU. The goal is to better prepare students in math and English before their first semester, thereby improving their chances of completing a college degree. https://csustudentsuccess.org/supportive-pathways-first-year-students-program Upon admission, CSU campuses will inform students how and where to sign-up for Early Start. Early Start math and English courses are available at every CSU campus, and online. Financial aid is available for those demonstrating need.

How to Satisfy the Entry Level Writing Requirement for the UCs
The University of California’s Entry Level Writing Requirement is a writing proficiency expectation for first-year success. The ability to read carefully, analyze what you’ve read, and write effective essays is an essential part of thriving at UC. All students entering UC as freshmen must fulfill the Entry Level Writing Requirement, either by demonstrating proficiency through qualifying test scores, UC-transferable college English composition courses or by following your campus’s instructions for meeting the Entry Level Writing Requirement. Visit your campus web page to learn about campus-specific guidelines for meeting the ELWR: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz.

Note: The ELWR must be satisfied either before beginning courses on a UC campus or during the first three quarters or two semesters of enrollment. Check with your campus if you have questions about the ELWR time limit.

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/elwr/

Students can satisfy the requirement by scoring:
• 30 or better on the ACT, English Language Arts or 63 or better on ACT English Writing; or
• 680 or better on the SAT, Evidence-Based Reading and Writing; or
• 3 or above on either Advanced Placement Examination in English

Senior Monthly Reminder
• Expect to receive acceptance letters and financial aid offers by mid-April
• If you haven’t visited the college you’ve decided to attend, do so before accepting.
• Record in SCOIR which college you will be attending
• Record in SCOIR all scholarships you are receiving
• If you have questions about housing, talk to your counselor or call the college.
• Prepare for any Advanced Placement Program (AP) Exams you plan to take.
• Inform all colleges to which you applied of your admission and financial aid decisions by May 15^st.Send a deposit to only one college.

Junior Monthly Reminder
• Sign up to take the SAT in May or June through your CollegeBoard account.
• If you plan to play a sport in college and you haven’t signed up with the clearinghouse you need to do that now: https://web3.ncaa.org/ecwr3/
• Continue to explore colleges and financial aid opportunities in SCOIR
• Look into summer programs, workshops, internships, or jobs.

Schedule for SAT/ACT Test Dates for 2025