October/November 2022 Newsletter

2022 South Bend Community Hall of Fame Induction


Thank you to all who joined us for the 2022 South Bend Community Hall of Fame Induction. The evening was a smashing success! Your support for the incredible list of inductees and award winners will allow us to give more than ever to the students of the South Bend Community School Corporation.

The magical evening was highlighted by all of the insightful and moving speeches given by the inductees and award winners. Everyone was inspired by Ed Levy as he spoke directly to the students in the room about looking to those around them as role models and by the story of Roberta Spencer’s unending and continuous care for people facing the most difficult times of their lives.

We congratulate all of the inductees and award winners and thank them for living a life of service and for being the leaders that every community needs.

Thank you to Bob Montgomery for being a great MC once again. We appreciate Fr. John I. Jenkins for his wonderful invocation that started our night off!

We can’t forget to thank our great volunteers and staff members. Thank you! And cheers to our new ED, Kris Arizmendi Choinacky, and especially our newest chairperson, Mary Baker, for making this a momentous occasion.

Co-Ex Grants in Action

We continue to be excited about the future of the South Bend Alumni Association and what we plan to accomplish!  Through our Co-Ex grants, we provided uniforms, equipment and experiences to the children of SBCSC.

In September, we approved grants to help Dickinson Academy purchase warm-ups and uniforms for their basketball, football and volleyball teams. We also helped with funds to stock the Accelerated Reading Store at Lincoln Elementary School.

And in the above photos, we helped the Madison STEAM Academy pay registration fees and purchase materials for their Robotics Club.

SBCT’s ‘West Side Story’

We included some great sponsorships that continue to benefit SBCSC students. This month, we helped 2,000 students attend “West Side Story,” performed by the South Bend Civic Theatre and South Bend Symphony Orchestra at the beautiful, newly renovated Morris!

Bonus: Clay High School alumnus Nick Belton played Tony.

Día de los Muertos at the Morris

On October 30th, the Morris Performing Arts Center was filled with over 1,000 members of our community to celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). We were proud to sponsor this event, plus award McKinley Elementary School with one of our Co-Ex Grants that provided them material to make these beautiful masks below.

 

Our Executive Director, Kris Arizmendi Choinacky, second from left, gathers with award-winning mariachi musicians Vanessa Alonzo and Trio Chapultepec Oct. 30 at the Morris Performing Arts Center.

Create an Account to Stay Up-to-Date on Your High School Classmates & Reunions — It’s Free!

“The South Bend Alumni Association high school websites will be 7 years old in July 2022. The seven public schools have over 101,800 classmate names and senior photos posted, with more being added each day.

The goal is to provide means for all classmates to connect individually with private or public postings as well as collectively by announcing reunions and related activities including posting upcoming classmate birthdays as well as obituaries.

An important aspect of classmate profiles is the recording of high school memories and later life in college, travels, military service, employment, marriage and children etc. These stories are very important to your fellow classmates, your family and future generations. Give some thought to review your story and update it. Your grandchildren will be very happy to read them.

You can leave comments in the “In Memory” section for a classmate, however, they will not be reading it. You may want to send the message now while you are both “above ground”. It’s like sending a smile electronically. They may be waiting for a hug or your good news.

We depend on yearbooks donated to scan and store in our reference libraries. All South Bend Schools for all years. Also, hundreds of our school newspapers have been scanned and searchable. Please donate any that you may find.”

— Jim Champaigne

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**Please click on each school link for the wizard to join each school.**

Is Your High School Class Having a Reunion This Summer?

  • Who is on the committee?
  • Date
  • Location
  • Cost

Please send information to: jfchampaigne@gmail.com

The South Bend Alumni Association depends upon community support to continue our work in assisting the students of the South Bend Community Schools. If you would like to make a contribution, please visit our website for more information.

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