Bridget

Hi everyone! My name is Bridget Panopio and this will be my second year teaching Confirmation. I’ve grown a lot in my faith and as a person here at St. Anne’s. I’ve participated in the Altar Server Ministry, CCD, Youth Ministry, Emmaus, Eucharistic Minister, Young Adult Choir, Festival Committee and was a Sacristan for 5 years. Unfortunately I did not participate in the Confirmation program at St. Anne’s as I got Confirmed with my cousins in the Philippines. But it was a blessing and amazing opportunity that Jim invited me to become a Confirmation teacher, in which I am forever thankful for him. 

I graduated California State University, East Bay in 2016 with a major in Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation as well as a minor in American Sign Language. I am also currently working at Bon Appetit @ Google as an Assistant Cafe Manager. I absolutely love to bake and being in quarantine these past few months I finally found the time to bake again. When things were normal, I didn’t have much time to do a lot, so baking unfortunately had taken a back seat. Though it is under some bad circumstances I’m glad I had the opportunity to pick it back up. 

As I’ve stated, we are under some bad circumstances with this pandemic, but I’m am looking forward to being with you during your faith journey. This is not the way most of us thought 2020 would go, especially for this length of time, and I know it is rough adjusting to new normals or adjusting to online/virtual learning. We’re in this together and I can’t wait to take this ride with you. Can’t wait to get to know, learn and grow with every single one of you!
 

JJ

Hi! My name is JJ, one of the Confirmation teachers here at St. Anne’s. I’ve been teaching catechism and serving in the church pretty much all my life starting at St. Joachim’s in Hayward. I’m now starting my 3rd year of teaching confirmation here at St. Anne’s. Teaching confirmation has always been something that I wanted to do more than any other ministry. It’s my way of making sure that the youth of our community know about our faith and that our faith is much more than just going to church. It’s about service to others, leadership, humility and overall just being a good person.

To me, teaching the youth is dual purpose. It doesn’t just teach the youth, it involves the entire family, Parents, siblings, relatives, and friends. When one learns, everyone learns. As adults, we get caught up in our everyday lives and sometimes we forget about our faith. Sometimes it takes our youth to help us get back on track.

A unique aspect that impressed me about the St. Anne’s Program is that many of our Confirmation students move on after confirmation and join our peer youth leadership group, Emmaus. These individuals choose to join, they are not asked, and that inspires even myself that many of our youth want to be leaders and mentors and serve their community. That’s what moves me!

As for myself, I have a degree in Health Science, from Cal State HAYWARD!!!! but don’t work in the industry. I'm a realtor and I work at UC Berkeley as an IT Systems Admin. I grew up in Hayward, where we still live. One tidbit about myself, is that I spent much of my life as a parishioner of St. Joachim’s church which also happens to be my name. Yes, JJ stands for Joachim John. Peace be with you all.

Jeff