[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 114 (Friday, July 30, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                SUPPORTING OF JUNIPERO SERRA HIGH SCHOOL

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                           HON. MAXINE WATERS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 2010

  Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 
accomplishments of Junipero Serra High School which is located in 
Gardena, California in my district. Serra High has become the first in 
California state history to win a state football championship and a 
state basketball championship in the same school year. Even more 
remarkable and more important is the fact that for three years running, 
100% of Serra High School's graduating seniors were accepted to 
college.
  Junipero Serra High School is operated by the Department of Catholic 
Schools of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Serra High School was 
founded in 1950 and graduated its first class in 1953. Over the years, 
the school has played a very important role in the life of the 
community, graduating over six thousand students in the South Bay area.
  Serra's recent achievements add immensely to its already strong 
legacy. In December, the Cavaliers became the California 
Interscholastic Federation's Division III state champions in football 
with a victory that was ``as much a triumph of athletic skill as one of 
perseverance from year to year and play to play,'' as local newspaper 
the Daily Breeze stated. Against Marin Catholic High School, the 
Cavaliers won 24-20, establishing themselves as a dominant force in the 
very competitive California high school football climate.
  In March, Serra High School captured the Division III basketball 
championship with a 63-59 overtime victory over Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd 
completing the historic double victory. Not Santa Ana's Mater Dei, not 
Concord's De La Salle, not Los Angeles' Crenshaw High, not Long Beach 
Poly--no athletic powerhouse, private or public in California, had 
completed such a feat until Serra High did it. At the end of the 2009-
10 school year, Serra's athletic program was rated by ESPN as the 
fourth best all-around high school athletic program in the USA and the 
number one program in California. I also understand the Cavalier Track 
team came within two points of being state champions and that the Girls 
Basketball and Track teams have also excelled.
  I congratulate President Erick Rubalcava, Principal Michael Wagner, 
Athletic Director Ted Dunlap, Head Football Coach Scott Altenberg, Head 
Basketball Coach Dwan Hurt, their assistant coaches, the entire school 
staff and all of the amazing faculty and students at Serra for their 
excellence both in academics and athletics.

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