Homesick for LA at UC Irvine, Nicole Bihari, Class of '96, decided to do it her own way. Returning to Los Angeles, Nicole began to take classes on her own through UCLA extension, accumulating 44 units as of last spring. Nicole had a great time doing school on her own terms while maintaining a 3.4 GPA. Her hope was to accumulate enough credits to slide into UCLA as a junior and she did it! Nicole was accepted at UCLA for Fall 1999.

If you saw the Concord High School sign in the Our Times section of the Los Angeles Times on May 9th (page 7) and read the article, you would now know that we are a major California high school sports power. Out of our small student body (88 this year), we happen to have three young hockey players who were on two winning teams which competed in the National Championships last April.

David Andrews, Class of '01, played for the West Valley Wolves, a Bantam AA team. In March, David and the Wolves won the Pacific Regional Championship in Anchorage, Alaska. As winners, they went to the Nationals in St. Peters, Missouri, in mid-April, where they were not eliminated until the semi-finals.

Max Duganne, Class of '01 and Will Bentley, Class of '02, played on the Junior Kings, a AAA Bantam team, sponsored by the Los Angeles Kings. They also won their Pacific Regional championships in Seattle in mid-March. The Nationals for AAA teams were held from April 7-11 in Adina, Minnesota, where Max, Will and the Junior Kings also lasted well into the competition, being knocked out only in the semi-final rounds.

It's easy to be proud of these young men, as they continue to do very well in school while actively pursuing their athletic ambitions. How many of you have seen the ice hockey rink in the basement of the school? Come by and one of our state champs will give you the tour.

Violet Ramis, Class of '95, dropped by in July on her way to New York City. She graduated in June from UC Santa Cruz, with honors, and plans to work for a while before entering graduate school in the field of education. Violet's dad, Harold Ramis, spoke at the graduation ceremonies, just as he did when Violet graduated from Concord!

Caitlin Bernstein, Class of '98 earned academic honors at Mills College for spring, 1999, before taking off to spend the summer in Japan! She has been learning Japanese...and teaching English.

Community service paid off for Andrew Kazakes, Class of '00, as he was selected to receive a President's Student Service Scholarship by the Corporation for National Service. This award, announced by President Clinton, was in recognition of Andrew's exemplary community service. Andrew worked hard, putting in over 200 hours of community service last year at the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica's Knight's Service Club, where he helped with yard sales, fed the homeless, and helped out with the cooking Andrew also received a $1,000 scholar-ship to help him attend college. Who says nice guys finish last?

When she came to Concord, Danielle Rabkin, Class of '99, had only one wish, she wanted to attend the University of California at Berkeley. It would he unfair to Danielle to say, "guess who got her wish," because Danielle worked very hard last year to become one of California's top students. UC Berkeley is fortunate to have her.

Katia Sigal, Class of '99, began to dance when she was three years old, while she was living in Texas. She never stopped. For the past nine years, she has per-formed in jazz, ballet and tap performances, joining The Dance Factory Teen Performing Troupe in Los Angeles in 1993. She has also danced with the Groove Radio Dance Troupe and in 1998 with Dick Clark Productions in Las Vegas for the New Year's Rockin' Eve '99. As a fitting tribute for all of this hard work, dedication and the love of dance, Katia was accepted to UCLA's prestigious dance program where she will be dancing "smartly" for the next four years.

Who's' the newest reporter in town? Our very own Lindsay Spann, Class of '02, who has recently been selected by the Los Angeles Times as its youth correspondent! She will be interviewing teens on various subjects in the coming months. Perhaps you saw her first opinion piece on youth violence in the Times' Metro Section, "Voices," Saturday, June 12, 1999.

Stephen Benenson, Class of '97, stopped by to visit Concord last June on his way to Peru! Stephen attends Wheaton College, and has decided to major in anthropology. Many of you know Stephen as the artist responsible for several of the awesome works of art that grace Concord's walls, especially his "old men." Stephen will be studying in Boston during the next year at the Museum, where he will likely be a neighbor of Tim Barry, Class of '98, who will be a sophomore at Boston University. Tim returned to Los Angeles last summer to intern for a well-known music/production company.