Dinner Night Out

We will be having our first Dinner Nite Out fundraiser on Monday October 27th from 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Rubio's in Torrance. Rubio's will dontate 20% of your order to PLHS. Please make copies of the flyer and hand out to anyone who may be interested in supporting our school (you must present the flyer when ordering). We are going to try to have one of these events about every 6 weeks. The amount raised will be published in the school newsletter. To God alone be the Glory!

4th Annual Pancake Breakfast

Every fall Pacific Lutheran High School partners with Ascension Lutheran Church and School and South Bay Lutheran High School to present a Pancake Breakfast and Rummage Sale. The breakfast will be held on Saturday November 8, 2008 at Ascension Lutheran Church.
This year, there will be a competition with prizes awarded to the students who sell the most tickets. You can view the prize list here Let's make this year's event the best ever!

Jung Park Honored as Commended Scholar

Jung Park (Class of 2008) was recently honored by the College Board Organization as a "Commended Scholar" based upon her PSAT scores last Fall. Jung scored in the 95th percentile of people taking the PSAT. This translates into her being in the top 50,000 of 1.5 million college-bound students who took this exam. Jung was recently honored in a school chapel and in the Torrance Daily Breeze's "Neighbors" section for this accomplishment. We are very proud of Jung and look forward to great things from her in the future. - Mr. Fitzgerald

Boys Football Team wins

Pacific Lutheran (2-2) racked up 723 total yards in an 80-50 non-league victory over host Noli Indian (1-3) at Sodoba Oaks Ranch in San Jancinto. The Stingrays used two quarterbacks who threw for 517 yards and 7 TDs. Frankie Cota was 26-for-36 for 320 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions, and Cory Maulupe was 20-for-33 for 197 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Running back Joshua Jordan had eight carries for 175 yards, and Pacific Lutheran (2-2) had 10 sacks. Noli Indian is 1-3. (Courtesy Torrance Daily Breeze)

Dress Code Changes

There have been some changes to the school Dress Code Policy for the Fall 2008 semester..

PLHS Adds Four New Electives

Pacific Lutheran High School is pleased to announce the addition of four new elective courses for the 2008-2009 school year. These extra elective courses are possible through last Spring's dinner auction and through our continued commitment to the expansion of our academic curriculum. The four new elective courses offered this year are Chemistry, Logic/Critical Thinking, Anatomy and Nutrition/Exercise Science and expand our course offerings in the areas of Science and Humanities.

Scholarship Students

Alex van der Linden will be attending Cambell University in North Carolina and has received a Scott-Ellis Scholarship for the 2008-2009 school year. This annual scholarship is determined by a combination of high school g.p.a., test scores and high class ranking.

Senior Peter Spartalis has received an annual $6,500 academic scholarship from Concordia University, Irvine and will be entering as a freshman in the Fall. This scholarship was derived by high school grade point average and S.A.T. scores.

Congratulations to both Peter and Alex for their success at P.L.H.S. and their positive start to their college careers.

Alumni Update

Alumni Kelly Warneke ('04) and David Judkins ('04) have recently graduated from Concordia University, Irvine. Kelly was chosen as the Senior of the Year and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Concordia. She has been actively involved in campus ministry and has contributed as a student worker in the Pacific Southwest District Office. She will be doing her internship as a Director of Christian Education near San Diego this Fall.

David Judkins graduated with a B.S. in Science with an emphasis in Sports Marketing. He is presently working towards his goal of becoming a sports agent after a successful four years at Concordia

Magali Riancho ('04) recently graduated from Loyola Marymount with a double major in Spanish and Theology. She was on the Dean's List all four years and worked frequently in campus ministries at LMU. She is looking to either teach or pursue graduate education in the near future.

Baseball Team Wins C.I.F. Playoff Game

The boys baseball team completed Pacific Lutheran High School's most successful season ever this past season. They finished the Mulholland League in second place and ended the year with a 17-2 record. They defeated Lake Arrowhead Christian in a first round C.I.F. playoff game played at SCROC field in Torrance. They fought a toughly contested match in the second round losing 7-5 to Avalon. Congratulations to Head Coach Ullric Pattillo, Assistant Coaches Paul Martinez and Paul Balaschak, and to the baseball players for the best baseball season in school history. Way to go Rays.

Thrivent Financial Donation

The West Los Angeles Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans was recently honored in chapel for their generous $3,200.00 donation to the academic and athletic programs at Pacific Lutheran High School. This is the fifth consecutive year Thrivent has donated monies to the school. They have been one of the strongest supporters of our school in our young history. Receiving a certificate of appreciation from the chapter were Sheila Lawton and Ted Fromme.

Pennies for Patients Fundraiser

Pacific Lutheran High School students raised $777.80 through their participation in Pennies for Patients, an in-school service learning program that benefits patients battling blood cancers. The school's campaign ran from April 7-11, 2008. Pacific Lutheran joined students at 1450 schools throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange County and the Inland Empire in collecting spare change to donate to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society during this 2007-2008 school year. In 2007, The Greater Los Angeles Chapter raised a staggering $901,000 through Pennies for Patients to become the leading chapter in the country, two years in a row. Seventy-five cents of every dollar donated goes directly to funding research and programs dedicated to finding a cure for leukemia and improving the quality of life for patients and their families. Helping to find a cure for leukemia is a particularly personal cause for our children because leukemia kills more of our young people under the age of 20 than any other cancer. We can be proud of our school's support of the Society's commitment to research programs here in Southern California. Currently, the Society is funding five investigators at UCLA, for a total research commitment of $1.5 million over the next five years. Over the past six years alone, the Society has committed more than $6 million in research funding to 16 Los Angeles area researchers at UCLA, Children's Hospital LA, City of Hope, and the California Institute of Technology. The society, through its 68 US and two Canadian chapters, has become the world's largest, voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $550 million in research specifically targeting blood cancers.