Mustang Monthly

Mustangs on The Road - Chicago!

The Windy City greeted us with tons of Mustang spirit and we are grateful to all who joined us on our fourth stop in a series of regional alumni visits we call "Mustangs on the Road." Having the opportunity to connect with each of you and hearing your stories makes us so proud, as always, of our alumni!

Contact Denise Suarez, Director of Alumni Relations at dsuarez@myimmaculatehs.org if interested in hosting a reception in your city or town. We will be looking to schedule our 2019-20 visits shortly!

Chris Palmer ‘68 Receives Prestigious Honor

Congratulations to alumnus and IHS Hall of Famer Chris Palmer '68, recipient of the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance Gold Key Award. Chris was honored with this prestigious award at the Alliance’s 78th-annual Gold Key Dinner on Sunday April 28, 2019 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. Chris has had a remarkable career, while remaining committed to his alma mater! He is a true-blue Mustang and has achieved much professional success, spending 22 years as an assistant coach in the NFL, plus two seasons as head coach of the “expansion” Cleveland Browns. Chris is currently the Athletic Director for the University of New Haven. To read the full story of Chris’ award, please click here. 

Golden Mustang Reunion News - Class of '69

Each June IHS plans a grand celebration for the 50th reunion class. Thank you to the classes of '66, '67 and '68 for joining us for memorable celebrations of your 50th reunion over the past three years and congratulations on being inducted as Golden Mustangs.

Invitations have been mailed for the Class of 1969’s big event which will be held May 31 - June 2. Please visit www.immaculatehs.org/50reunion for more information or to register. It will be another great weekend to be a Mustang!

 

Career Day 2019

The IHS annual Career Day opened new doors of thought for students as they learned about various careers and all that it takes to be successful in those fields.  Twenty-six speakers shared their experience with the students, including alumnus Albert V. Lupenski '80, Major General in the U.S. Air Force, who kicked off the morning as keynote speaker.

Other careers represented include marketing/sales, psychology, information technology, clinical therapist/social work, finance/banking, police/law enforcement, data science/analytics, entrepreneur, law/attorney, medicine, military service, engineering, education, politics, nursing, college admissions/recruiting, international non-profit, corporate social responsibility, business development, FBI, veterinary medicine, photojournalism, public relations/communications, chemistry, pharmacology and physical therapy among others. Career Day is presented by the Immaculate High School Alumni Association, with alumni, parents and community partners taking the time to share their insights with our students. The students are incredibly grateful to all of our guest presenters, with special appreciation extended to our Keynote Speaker, Major General Lupenski who travelled from Virginia to be with us.

Maj. Gen. Albert V. Lupenski is the Director, Air Force Reserve Plans, Programs and Requirements, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. He is responsible for planning and programming a force of more than 70,000 personnel and the flying hours for 17 types of aircraft in combat air forces, mobility air forces, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; tankers, training, weather reconnaissance and special operations. Plans, Programs and Requirements analyzes a $110 billion-per-year program that recommends and presents options to senior leaders and is the Air Force Reserve conduit for coordinating change with the chief of the Air Force Reserve to meet the needs of the Air Force.

General Lupenski told the students how he still remembered walking down the halls of Immaculate and of the friends he made. “You will maintain really close relationships with people from high school,” he said, and noted that besides developing life-long friendships, students receive the education and more to succeed in life.  “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after high school, but I knew I had the skills thanks to my time at Immaculate. Next to my parents, Immaculate gave and reinforced important values,” he said.

Integrity, service to others before ourselves and striving for excellence in all that we do are three of the values he believes Immaculate instills in students. “You should thank your parents for sending you here,” General Lupenski asserted.

The General then explained how life has a way of moving you in the direction that will most fulfill you, that “doors open, doors close” and not to fear that but embrace it. “Understanding this helps you move to new things, things that you didn’t plan but end up loving,” he said. General Lupenski shared how his desire to learn how to fly led him on the journey to becoming a Major General in the Air Force Reserve, and the challenges he had to overcome to get there. “You will meet adversity and challenges, but they are blessings because you can’t grow if life is perfect,” said General Lupenski. He left the students with this advice:

1. Balance career with family, and think about this when making your life plans.

2. Honesty gets you everywhere, it is necessary even when hard.

3. Always fall back on your faith.

4. Do what you do to make something better.

5. You can be satisfied without making a lot of money; you will be more satisfied by doing something that is good for others.

Career Day is designed to give students an understanding of the education and preparation requirements to enter each profession. It also provides students an opportunity to consider all aspects of the profession, see how each speaker prepared for that field and see what a typical day is like for each professional. If you would be interested in being a Career Day presenter next year, please call Denise at (203) 744-1510 x158.