Two eighth grade boys at St. Christopher School in West Covina have accomplished the dream of every parent, teacher and administrator: prefect attendance for nine years (K-8).

Michael Solis and Nicholas Montoya, good friends since meeting on the soccer field five months before starting kindergarten, were recently honored at their graduation with perfect attendance plaques for attending every school day September 1998 through June 2007.

"Both the boys and their parents are strong-willed," explained vice principal Betty Ann Overley who says the boys just enjoyed coming to school and "didn't want to miss out. Their friends were here and they liked being here to learn."

They each survived tumbles to earn their honors. In kindergarten, Michael fell off the monkey bars and broke his arm but was still in school the next day. During first grade Nicholas fell and required stitches on his head, but he was still there the next day.

Montoya and Solis aren't the first time St. Christopher graduated a perfect attender. A similar award was given three years ago and next year, if all goes well, another student will claim the honor.

Overall, highlighting students with perfect attendance is a real incentive to the younger children says Overley. "The little ones look up to the older ones," she says.

Michael will pursue his perfect attendance efforts at Damien High School and Nicholas at Bishop Amat.

San Gabriel Mission Museum renovation completed
After being closed in early October for renovation, the San Gabriel Mission Museum is now welcoming visitors who can admire artifacts on display among the newly retrofitted museum walls and temperature-controlled facility.

Although the museum has been open for months, the task of placing artifacts back on display in a good arrangement has taken months. More signage has been added, and a few more items are now on display as the first of a few custom-made cabinets has been installed that allows more books to be opened for display.

The $80,000 project of retrofitting the museum walls was funded largely by the Parsons Foundation of Pasadena through the California Missions Foundation. The family of Antonio and Carmen Gonzalez, parents of Claretian Father Arnold Gonzalez, added more than $15,000 to the project.

Visitors to the museum are also encouraged to check out the church, grounds and gardens on a self-guided tour. Admission to the museum is $5 adults, $4 seniors, $3 for youth, free for children 5 and younger. The mission church, museum and gardens will be open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.sangabrielmission.org.

Alverno students honored
This fall, UCLA will welcome two top Alverno High School grads in valedictorian Bianca Paraguya and salutatorian Mary Claire Malooly. Paraguya will major in Political Science, while Malolly will focus on Physiological Science.

The students have been good friends since freshman year when Paraguya arrived at Alverno from Immaculate Conception School in Monrovia and Malooly came from Pasadena Towne and Country.

Paraguya made her mark in academics and Campus Ministry. Under her leadership, Alverno students performed record numbers of service hours (17,000 hours of service in 2006-07) and lived out the school's philosophy of service to others.

As well as shining academically, Malooly led the Alverno basketball team to their first league championship in a decade. Both young women are Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Nominees.

Alverno junior Olivia Uranga was named by the College Board as a National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar. Uranga is a member of National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation, and participates on Alverno's track & field, cross country and soccer teams. She is a graduate of San Gabriel Mission School in San Gabriel.