Alumni

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Dear Lord, be with our Alumni.

May they represent Bourgade Catholic as
life-long learners, effective communicators, globally aware citizens, and spiritually centered Christians.

May they accept challenges with unwavering enthusiasm and great expectations, for nothing is impossible with YOU.

May they come to know, love, and serve You
more fully each day, and glorify You in their accomplishments.
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We ask these blessings on our alumni in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

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We are looking for updated contact information for all of our alumni out there. We ask that all alumni reach out to as many classmates as you can and have them submit an Alumni Update Form. We want to make sure that you're receiving news about all the latest and greatest happenings at BCHS!

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Golden Eagle Alum Finds Strength in Family to Help with Professional Apsirations
August 2018

We are proud to feature, Javier Hernandez II, a 2013 graduate of Bourgade Catholic High School for this month’s alumni spotlight.

Javier Hernandez II is a graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas grade school in Goodyear; not far from Tolleson, Arizona where he has grown up and currently resides. He would later attend Bourgade Catholic High School where he graduated as a member of the Class of 2013.

At BCHS, Javier was heavily involved in athletics including football, wrestling, stunt, and baseball. He was also a member of the Athletic Leadership Team. Inside the classroom, Javier took a liking to Mr. Steuter’s Biology class, appreciating the difficulty of the content and the intensity in which it was taught. In continuing his passion for sport and athletics, Javier went on to attend Grand Canyon University where he recently graduated in May of this year with his B.S. in Exercise Science with an emphasis in Sports Performance. The pursuit of this degree came with a purpose – to help others with their life goals through exercise and sport, and that’s exactly what he has intended with his company, Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning.

Although more a recent passion having been founded in the past couple years, Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning was born long ago through the inspiration of Javier’s grandfather who was a well-known produce boxer through the southwestern part of the United States. Javier recalls when his grandfather used to tell his story, that he would lead the listener on to believe that he was a boxer, as in the sport of boxing. As his story continued, he’d reveal that he was referring to his field work in packing boxes with fruits and vegetables. Javier uses the same, harmless and witty deception when he cites that his grandfather “…was never knocked out, but he was sometimes beaten.” Emilio. Milo. EZ. Or more popularly, EZQ. These were all names that Javier’s grandfather was known by in the work fields and among those close to him. Javier expresses that Lift 4 Life is a product of how highly regarded he held his grandfather and how important it was for him to understand the lifestyle that he went through. On October 11, 2012, Emilio Zarate Quiñones passed away and Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning was born.

Lift 4 Life is a strength and conditioning organization that provides a variety of services to athletes of all shapes, sizes, and skill levels.  Through a four-step program focus, Lift 4 Life covers all elements to building a strong and healthy lifestyle.

• Step 1 – Lift: A complete program for training and lifting weights with a greater purpose
• Step 2 – 4: Bringing a 4th quarter mentality and finishing through tasks with maximum effort and as wisely possible
• Step 3 – Life: Something that can’t be completely understood but something we should be striving to better every day
• Step 4 – Strength: Lies within every person and helps us in helping ourselves over time

These four pillars serve as the foundation of Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning. As one of Javier’s goals through Lift 4 Life is to help others in overcoming their obstacles, he and his organization did come about with a few challenges of their own.

He cites the hardest part of everything was the education. School is not something that ever came natural so for Javier to gain the knowledge to be able to work professionally in the world of strength and conditioning was difficult. His next obstacle was figuring out where exactly to start. From his first day at GCU, he began immersing himself in dozens of coaching internships which saw him gain experience from a local high school level, all the way up to working with professional, NFL athletes at the Fischer Institute. Javier would eventually end up as the GCU Rugby Strength & Conditioning Coach. Even amidst finishing school and delving himself into tons of experience opportunities, he continuously had to overcome battles of time management and commitment in starting his organization.

When asked about Javier’s experience at Bourgade and if anything he had learned helped him in his journey to build Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning, he fell back on a common theme, “Patience is a virtue.” He cited that during his time as a BCHS student, many of his teachers and other staff on campus would maintain this notion and it helped him generate some confidence in creating his organization knowing that it would take time.

As Lift 4 Life continues to build momentum, especially, among many former Bourgade athletes who have gone on to play their sport at the collegiate level, Javier always maintains a mindset of “Quality over quantity.” It is his firm belief that you are better off delivering a solid, quality experience for a single client than to provide a mediocre experience to many clients. And at the end of the day, success for Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning is having satisfied clients; having someone who was able to go through a journey on the back of a Lift 4 Life program and come out on top.

​Congratulations to Javier and all his success in his ventures with Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning. On behalf of the Bourgade Catholic community, we wish him all the best. To learn more about Lift 4 Life: Strength and Conditioning or to book a session, visit lift4lifestrength.com or contact Javier at javi@lift4lifestrength.com.  

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