RHS Alumni Foundation
Welcome to our Roosevelt High School Alumni Foundation page
Our mission is to inform, engage and organize our alumni, community members and business associates of Roosevelt high school to raise awareness, resources, funds and support for the benefit of the school and student body.
Our goal of our alumni foundation is to provide support to our current students by providing scholarships and support for student life at Roosevelt. In addition, we seek to increase alumni participation by getting our alumni to attend our events, join committees, or consider joining our alumni foundation.
Congratulations to the new Roosevelt Alumni Foundation Executive Board
Maria “Sokie” Quintero, Class of 1984-President of the Alumni Foundation
Virginia Childress, Class of 1994-Vice President of the Alumni Foundation
Alejandra Henriquez, Class of 1999-Secretary of the Alumni Foundation
Ricardo Esquerra, Class of 1988-Treasurer of the Alumni Foundation
I look forward to working with you all to work on building a strong
alumni foundation for our future generation of Rough Riders.
January/February Rider News
Hello Rider Family,
As Angelinos we all have seen a tragic way to begin the new year. I pray that you and your family are doing well. Our RHS foundation started this year hosting our annual general membership meeting on Tuesday, January 7th at the Hollenbeck Police Station Community room. The purpose of the meeting was to inform the alumni about what our foundation current projects are and to seek for alumni participation in our committees. We also shared the process of becoming part of the board. For your review, the application can be found at the end of this page, or you can also reach out to me at [email protected] for more information.
If you are interested in participating in our committees, please find the information below on what the committee is about and the board member chairing the committee.
Hall of Fame
This committee will coordinate the planning for this year hall of fame luncheon celebration. This event’s purpose is to honor and celebrate our amazing alumni to be inducted into the Roosevelt High School Hall of Fame. Nominations are being accepted. Please see the requirements to nominate an alumnus below:
Submit a bio on the nominee to [email protected]
If you are interested in participating in this committee, please contact the chair Candy Tanamachi at [email protected]
1st Annual Cheer/Dance/Drill Elementary & Middle School Competition
This committee will be planning the cheer/dance and drill competition to be held at Roosevelt’s on March 22nd 2025. All proceeds will help to support the spirits squads at RHS. If you are interested in helping to organize this event or become a sponsor, please contact Ricardo Esquerra at [email protected]
Alumni Homecoming Day
The goal of this committee is to organize the alumni weekend celebration on campus. This event’s purpose is to bring alumni back to our alma mater and to help with the ELA Classic tickets sales along with raising funds for the student clubs and student store. This year’s alumni homecoming day will be held on Saturday, October 11th. In addition to helping sales, the foundation will also award the Legacy Award, Rider award and Rough Rider business of the year. If you are interested in volunteering or sponsoring the event, please contact the chair of committee Virginia Childres at [email protected]
Scholarship Awards Reception
This event will organize the RHS student scholarship awards reception. The awards reception will be held Thursday, May 29th. The attendees include the scholarship donors, scholarship recipients and family members. The goal is to have a committee seeking sponsorship to host the event and coordinate the reception. If interested in being part of this committee or become sponsor please contact Sokie Quintero, chair of this committee at [email protected]
Beef Bowl Luncheon
This committee will work together with the GHS alumni foundation to coordinate the Varsity football players luncheon at Steven Steakhouse. This year’s beef bowl will take place on Sunday, October 5th. The committee will be responsible for seeking funding for the RHS football players’ meals. If you are interested in being part of this committee, please contact the chair Lance Holliday at [email protected]
Alumni Concert
This committee works closely with the current RHS music program as well as parents to help promote the concert as well as in organizing the fundraiser. The goal is to raise funds for the music program which includes jazz band, marching band and mariachi group. The next concert is set for the summer. So, stay tuned. For your information, contact Sokie Quintero at [email protected] or Jose Arellano at [email protected].
Farewell, Thank you and Welcome!
This past year we had an unfortunate loss to our board with the passing of Gil Ontiveros in June 2024. We are grateful for his support for our foundation over the years and may he rest in eternal peace.
On behalf of the board, we are grateful for your dedication and participation in the board. Thank you, Mayra Carrillo, Virginia Gonzalez, Gustavo Reynoso, JoAnn Tambara and Miguel Torres, Kenneth Wyrick and Armando Lopez for your support. We appreciate your contribution and wish you the best to you and your family.
I want to share great news and welcome our new board members that were voted in at our February board meeting. Our new board members have extensive leadership skills and experience in a variety of careers from accountants, business owners, lawyers and educators. They are committed to supporting our amazing students.
Congratulations and welcome the RHS Alumni Foundation board members. I look forward to working with you to support our students, faculty and staff at our beloved alma mater.
Please help me welcome:
Vivian Carrasco is a graduate from the Class of 1988 and is a business owner of Lajoma corporation, a real estate developing corporation. She also serves as treasurer/administrator for OLPH of Downey Education Foundation and was part of our RHS centennial committee and is also part of the RHS all stars.
Vickie Castro a graduate from the Class of 1963 is a retired principal of Hollenbeck middle school and has served as board member for LAUSD. Her leadership and mentoring have supported many teachers to pursue administrative roles. She is an active member of Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE).
Virginia Childress is a graduate from the Class of 1994. She is a business manager/supervisor for NKSFB, IIc CPA firm. Her role in the centennial committee was the key to the success of our celebration and was the chair of the 1st annual alumni homecoming weekend. She has also helped organize the creation of the RHS All Stars team. She also is also an active member of St. Marianne’s School PTO as the treasurer.
Sandy Correa graduated in 1989 and is a successful businesswoman of Two Peacocks Travel and co-founder of Flores de Juanita. She also is an insurance agent for Farmers Insurance. She was part of our centennial celebration committee and is a member of the RHS All Stars team.
Mario Esparza graduated in 1970 and is one of our new board members. He has many years of experience in the legal profession and was the owner/senior partner of Esparza Law firm. He is a member of the reunion committee for the class of 1955 and co-founder of L.V. Scholarship Foundation. He is looking forward to working with the board to support our students’ success.
Ricardo Esquerra is a graduate from the Class of 1987 and is a senior accounts receivable/collections supervisor for Grifols Shared Services North America Division. He brings his professional experience as well as his expertise in cheering and dance as he led the GHS dance to national championships. He was part of the Centennial committee and is a member of the RHS All Stars team.
Dr. Ben Gertner, Principal of RHS and is an important board member who assisted in organizing the centennial celebration as well as the alumni homecoming event. His support of the foundation is much appreciated as we continue to create future programing for our students at our beloved alma mater.
Maribel Grajales-Hernandez is a graduate from the Class of 1990 and is currently a lead special ed teacher and assistant athletic director for our beloved alma mater Roosevelt High. She brings her expertise in organizing and supervising school activities. She is currently a member of her reunion committee.
Alejandra Henriquez is a graduate from the Class of 1999 and is a Senior operations administrator for SWCA Environmental Consulting firm. She has extensive experience in event planning and hospitality industry. She brings her leadership and organizational skills to the board and is looking forward to helping the foundation reach success.
Lance Holliday is a graduate from the Class of 1978 and was part of the ROTC and coached football for RHS for over 10 years. His passion for youth development has been his personal vision and serves as Youth recruiter & program director for Kollab Youth Workforce Development Program. He has led the 10th Annual Beef bowl and will chair this committee again.
Hilda Olmos is a proud graduate from the Class of 1988 and was part of the centennial celebration committee and reunion committee. She is a data entry clerk for Saldana Landscape company. She brings her artistic and organizational skills to the board and is here to be of service.
Danny Rodriguez is a graduate from the Class of 1990 and is a Tech for Frontier Company. He is a member of the CWA executive board, committee member for MAP organization as well as committee member for his reunion committee. He brings to the board his passion to volunteer to support our community.
Candy Tanamachi is a graduate from the Class of Winter 1969 and a founding member of the RHS alumni foundation. She is the past president and through her leadership the foundation became a 501 c3 organization. She is part of several reunion committees and serves in many Boyle Heights organizations like the Hollenbeck Youth Center and has served as the treasurer for the board.
Andrew Tapia is a graduate from the Class of 1985 and serves as the school climate advocate at Hollenbeck Middle School. He is part of the school site council as secretary and is part of the local school leadership team. He recently volunteered to become our foundation webmaster and has really revamped the RHS alumni foundation page with current information.
Maria “Sokie” Quintero is a proud graduate from the Class of 1984 and is a Political Science Professor at East Los Angeles College. She has participated in her reunion committees and sits on the Casa0101 board member as vice president. She was the chair of the centennial committee and currently serves as the president of the alumni foundation.
Please contact us for more information about the foundation, please contact Sokie Quintero at [email protected] or call at 323-646-7434.
Our mailing address is
RHS Alumni Foundation
P.O. Box 331157
Los Angeles, CA. 90033
Email: [email protected]