Students of the Month

Melissa Costa, Student of the Month for April, has wowed the enti re MD community with her contributi ons to the school and her very powerful singing voice. Her beauti ful renditi on of “Crown of Thorns” by Melissa Rose during the Ash Wednesday and Lenten class Masses left quite an impact on the enti re Mater Dei community as we refl ected on the true meaning of Lent and the Easter season.

A four-year member of the choir program, she was in the Advanced Women’s Ensemble freshman year and has been in the Honors Chamber Singers since sophomore year. When asked about her involvement in the Mater Dei Choir Program Melissa says, “It has been one of my favorite memories at Mater Dei. Madrigal Feast and the overnight competi ti ons are memories I will cherish forever.”

Melissa Costa

Melissa is also involved in the handbell choir, Theatre Arts Club and the G.R.E.A.T kids club. Melissa had the female lead in the fall musical Lucky Sti ff and don’t miss her as Eliza Doolitt le in this year’s senior musical, My Fair Lady.

Melissa has parti cipated in various service and outreach projects over her four years at MD including volunteering at homeless shelters, serving as a teacher’s aid during summer classes and singing at Masses. Of all of the service acti viti es, she says Special Games is her favorite. “My sister has special needs and I loved interacti ng with other kids like her.”

The Mater Dei family really is a family to Melissa. Her brother Johnathan graduated in 2006, mother Jeanett e has taught English at Mater Dei since 2005 and brother Zachary is a member of the class of 2011. Melissa says that her own Mater Dei experience was amazing. Her advice to incoming freshman: “If you get involved, it is really easy to make lots of friends and experience the family feel of the Mater Dei community.” She has shared this advice and her experience on admissions visits with the Advancement Offi ce to her elementary school, La Purisima in Orange.

In her free ti me, she enjoys outside theatre, singing, writi ng poetry, studying art history and Egyptology. She is a member of San Antonio Church in Anaheim Hills. She is a member of the 11:30 a.m. choir and on occasion helps with purifi cati on.

Melissa plans to major in vocal performance with an emphasis in classical music. She has applied to the San Francisco Conservatory, Boston Conservatory and Peabody Conservatory. We are certain that it is only a matt er of ti me before more people know of this Monarch’s incredible talent.

Jesse Garcia, Student of the Month for April, has contributed to a variety of diff erent programs during his years at Mater Dei.

He is a familiar

face to many as an anchor on MDTV news each morning and is part of the MDTV classes and crew. He is also a member of the newly reformed Men’s Hip Hop team that wows the MD crowds at rallies, games and dance competi ti ons.

Carrying a 3.7 GPA, Jesse is currently taking AP computer science and plans to study mechanical engineering at Cal Poly Pomona in the fall. He says, “I’m a very visual and arti sti c person and people don’t think it’s a good suit for me. However, they don’t know that I really want to design airplanes and automobiles.”

Jesse Garcia

Jesse is part of NAHS, NHS and CSF. He also serves as a member of ASB on the Historian Commission and is a member of the Invisible Children’s club that raises money and awareness for children in Uganda. Jesse was a cast member of Shakespeare in the Grott o’s producti on of Romeo & Juliet during his freshman year and was a member of the boys’ basketball program his sophomore year.

While working to fulfi ll his community service requirement, Jesse parti cipated in a variety of diff erent acti viti es including teaching Filipino cultural dance to children and teenagers, feeding the homeless on Saturdays and he parti cipated in Special Games here at Mater Dei during his sophomore and junior years. When asked about his favorite outreach acti vity, he said, “my favorite would probably be dancing because it combined so many things I love: dancing, Filipino culture and friends. The dancing was fun and when we would perform at our school festi val we would open up a part of our culture to other people—which is something Filipinos do naturally.”

Jesse is a graduate of St. Columban School in Garden Grove where he is also a parishioner. For the past two years, he has served as an Admissions Ambassador with the Offi ce of Advancement & Alumni by sharing his MD experience with the students at his elementary school alma mater.

As he refl ects back on his Mater Dei experience, Jesse shares that his favorite Mater Dei memory would probably be sports games. “No matt er who is there or what sport you are watching (whether you are in the game, in the stands, or fi lming the game for MDTV), you really see how much support and how much of a family the student body is when they’re collecti vely cheering for their school/team.”

His advice to incoming freshman and those considering MD: “Mater Dei is such a great ti me of your life. Enjoy every moment of it because it goes so quickly. Some things you won’t miss, but everything is a learning experience that should be taken advantage of.”

Jesse resides in Garden Grove with his mother Marisa, stepfather Mark, sister Jean ’06, brother Auggie and stepbrother Kris. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6