OUTSTANDING

Moorehead

SHOMARI MOOREHEAD, SJHS CLASS OF 1995, EXCELS IN COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

August 2014 issue

14 NEW ALUMNI ADDED FROM THE SJHS CLASS OF 2014

Upon graduation from St. Joseph High School in 1995, Shomari attended Boston University where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Master of Science degree in Computer Information Systems with a concentration in Knowledge Management. After graduation Shomari stayed in Boston and worked at Boston University as an analyst and consultant developing software and managing the campus' residential computer labs. After four years he left for an opportunity to work for IBM. Shomari spent seven years at IBM as a user experience consultant working with

Shomari Moorehead

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Pictured are His Excellency Bishop Herbert Bevard and Fr. John Mark in front of the 14 graduates

The 2014 Commencement Exercise of St. Joseph HIgh School took was held at St. Joseph Church beginning at 3 PM on Sunday, June 1st. The ceremony began with the National Anthem followed by the Virgin Islands March. His Excellancy Bishop Herbert Bevard continued the program with his welcome remarks. The 14 graduates were presented by Ms. Meg Bryson, Religion Teacher. The Salutatorian address was given by Meliniqua Francis and the Valedictorian address was given by Kedisha Charles. The diplomas were presented by Bishop Bevard

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companies including American Express, Moody’s Investor Services, Southwest Airlines, Bank of America, United Airlines, US Open Golf, Masters Golf, Australian Open, and Wimbledon. He has traveled to more than half of the 50 United States, a third of the Caribbean countries, and as far west as Tahiti and as far east as India. Shomari’s love for entrepreneurship, St. Croix and the Virgin Islands lead him to start CrucianPoint Consulting. Since leaving IBM he has continued to work with a wide variety of clients including InterContinental Hotels, Citibank, Coca-Cola, and Intel. In the Virgin Islands, Shomari works with the Department of Tour ism, Vi rg in Is lands Economic Development Authority, and more than 30 small businesses. Highlights of his career include working for the VI Department of Labor and being featured on the front page of the St. Croix Avis for his work, developing the My Virg in Is lands smartphone app, working in England at Wimbledon, working in Bangalore, India with Intel, and recently acquiring Sugarmill Media. Shomari serves on the board of the St. Croix Foundation and was recently selected to join the board of the St. Croix Landmarks Society. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. In Atlanta he is the president of the Virgin Islands Association of Georgia. When time off from work permits, Shomari enjoys traveling with his wife and his 2 boys, Zion and Adonis. Shomari currently splits his time between Atlanta, Georgia and his home in St. Croix.

assisted by Rev. E. Patrick Lynch, C.Ss.R, Diocesan School Superintendent; Fr. John Mark, Principal, and Ms. Sandra Maynard, Office Manager/Dean. After the Benediction given by Bishop Bevard, the school’s Alma Mater, “St. Joseph We Truly Love Thee” was sung. The new Alma Mater was composed by Fr. John Mark and the lyrics are listed at the end of this article. Graduation closed with the singing of the recessional, “When the Saints Go Marching In”. Here are the names of the SJHS Class of 2014 in alphabetical order:

Jamie Marshall-Bates, Kedisha Charles, Elvis Davis Jr., Addina Demming,Ashley Desormeaux, Kristina Diaz,

Jenelle Edwards, Meliniqua Francis,Amishah Freeman, Nicole grey,

Alexander Nyack, Malika Oveson, Dean Plaskett, Elayna Schuster

Alma Mater - “St. Joseph We Truly Love Thee”

St. Joseph we truly love thee.Pray for us in the hour of our need.Teach ou to love Mary our Queen,

Teach us to love Jesus our King. (x2)

When the last dread hour is O’er usPray thy Son may fashion for us

Death anointed and holySt. Joseph thy Son to see (x2)

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HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VOCATION

BYDR. CLAUDIA SCHRADER,

SJHS CLASS OF 1986

I was grateful for all my accomplishments and I was acutely aware of how much I had been blessed with. Because I understand the adage “to whom much is given, much is expected”, I know the time had come to start giving back and paying it forward. I answered this call to service by volunteering with the Habitat for Humanity Global Village Program. Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity is an international, non-governmental, and non-profit organization. The organization whose mission is “seeking to put God’s love into action” is devoted to building "simple, decent, and affordable" housing to address the issues of poverty housing all over the world. I was no stranger to Habitat, I had volunteered with the NYC affiliate years before. My friends were supportive of my decision to travel to Brazil to build homes, a l though they d idn ’ t necessar i l y understand why. Frankly, I didn’t understand it either, but I just knew it was something I needed to do. It was an adventure into the unknown. My only contact with the team leader was once over the phone during my initial interview and from email updates about the build. I had never been to Brazil. I did not know Portuguese (although the Spanish I learned in Ms. Zayas’ 9th grade Spanish class would prove very useful); and I certainly never met any of the 22 people that I would be spending the 2-½ weeks with. As fate and faith would have it, there was nothing to fear. On the other end of the “call” I answered was an incredible team of diverse yet like-minded people. By day we carted and laid bricks, mixed cement and sweated under the hot Brazilian sun. By night we ate incredible food, enjoyed Brazilian culture and got to know each other. By the end of two weeks we jubilantly celebrated the completion of

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Claudia Schrader with baby girl, Peace, in Bungoma, Kenya in 2013

Twenty-eight years ago no one could have told me that when I circled the octagon on my way to class, took notes in Mr. Harris’ history class, built friendships that would last a life time and strutted across the stage to retrieve my diploma-- that these hands would one day hold a passport that would demonstrate evidence of me circling the globe, seeing places I had only read about in history books and where I would build homes for families in need. In 2006, I embarked on mission that would transform my life. In the 20 years after graduating from high school, I had obtained my college degree from Rutgers University and two Master degrees and a Doctorate from Columbia University. I was also enjoying professional success and satisfaction as a faculty member and deputy Chairperson at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.

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world, we can make a difference in both big and small ways. (Dr. Claudia V. Schrader is a 1986 graduate of St. Joseph High School and currently serves as the Vice President & Provost for Academic Affairs at Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY).)

Claudia Schrader bending rebar in San Salvador, El Salvador, 2008

Claudia Schrader in Mfuleni, South Africa, 2011

Claudia Schrader in My Tho, Vietnam, 2009

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two homes, but I knew this was just the beginning for me. The next year I traveled to El Salvador with a team of 14 to build 7 homes; followed by Vietnam (2009); South Africa (2011); Ghana (2012); Kenya (2013) and most recently Ethiopia (2014). With each build, I met and bonded with a new team of people from all over the United States and the world, like Australia, Turkey and China; and I had the opportunity to work alongside homeowners and people from the communities we built in. I got to be a part of cultures that I have only read about. In Vietnam, I ate dragon fruit and explored the Vietcong jungle. In South Africa I ate fat cake, visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, and talked for hours to our driver who was part of the anti-Apartheid movement. In Ghana, I was greeted as “sister”, touched the door of no return in Elmina Castle and was given my African name- Efia, which means, “born on a Friday”. In Kenya, I helped to make chapatis, carted water from a stream a half a mile away from the village, visited a Masai village, and carried a baby girl named Peace in a kanga on my back. In Ethiopia, I paid respects to a neighbor who had loss her stepfather, ate lentils and sang an old Ethiopian folk song to the community. In total, I’ve helped to build over 12 homes, but if you multiply that number by the number of people that I’ve met and the number of families we built homes for and their future generations, then the difference that I have made is immeasurable. Despite that, what we accomplish and what I have contributed pales in comparison to what I gain. The truth is Habitat fills me up and renews my spirit. Most importantly, it reminds me that although there is so much work to be done to eradicate poverty in the

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organization run by the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism, covering Maryland's gambling industry, as well as sports within the state. On July 1, 2014, Sydney earned a graduate certificate in Documentary Filmmaking from The Documentary Center at The George Washington University. As a part of the program, she co-produced 20-minute documentary titled "New Normal" , which explored the daily lives of type 1 diabetics. The film is being entered into several national and international film festivals for the 2014-2015 season.

JORDAN PAUL, SJHS CLASS OF 2009, WHO GRADUATED FROM DESALES

UNIVERSITY IN 2013 VISITED SJHS IN MAY, 2014.

Jordan Paul, brother of Sydney and Camille, spoke to Bro. James’

Astronomy Class during his visit

While Jordan Paul is pursuing his career in TV/Film in Los Angeles and Hollywood, he found time to stop by his alma mater and showed many of unique videos to most of the students during several sessions and also made a video while at the school. Jordan already has a large number of videos that are posted on online.

SYDNEY PAUL, SJHS CLASS OF 2008, RECEIVED A MASTER OF

JOURNALISM DEGREE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND IN

2013

Sydney Paul, on the left, with her sister, Camille, after receiving her

Master of Journalism Degree in 2013 Sydney Paul graduated from The University of Chicago in 2012 with a B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in cultural sociology. I n December 2013 , Sydney graduated and received a Master of Journalism (MJ) degree with a concentration in Multi-Platform Journalism from the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. The program was a year and a half long. Sydney was given the opportunity to be a freelance reporter for several newspapers including the Laurel Leader, which is a subsidiary newspaper of the Baltimore Sun Media Group, and the Arlington Mercury based out of Arlington, Virginia. During the last semester, she worked full time for Capital News Service, a student-run news

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SJHS PARTICIPATED IN THE MARCH FOR LIFE IN

WASHINGTON, D.C. IN JANUARY 2014

Current SJHS Graduates, Kedisha Charles and Ashley Desormeaux are among those holding the banner at the March for Life. 22 students and 5 Faculty and Staff Members participated in the March for Life in Washington, D.C. from January 20 to 24, 2014.

SJHS CELEBRATED CATHOLICSCHOOLS WEEK WITH ITS

ANNUAL WALKATHON

St. Joseph High School students and Faculty play a volleyball game at the Vincent Mason Resort after participating in the 5 mile Walkathon which concluded theactivities of Catholic Schools Week on January 31, 2014.

CAMILLE PAUL, SJHS CLASS OF 2006, GRADUATED FROM VASSAR COLLEGE IN 2010 AND IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON A MASTER’S DEGREE AT GEORGE

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Camille Paul, sister of Sydney and Jordan, on the SJHS campus in May

2014

Camille Paul, SJHS Class of 2006, graduated from Vassar College in 2010 with a degree in "Neuroscience and Behavior." After Camille graduated, she worked at Joslin Diabetes Center, a teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School, in Boston as a clinical research assistant from 2010-2012. Camille then moved on to work as a clinical research coordinator in the department of medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. She specifically worked within the division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition from 2012-2013. Camille began a Master of Public Health Degree at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health during the Fall of 2013 with a concentration in Community-Oriented Primary Care.

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