Field Work

Norma Rios ’82

With a handful of dogs and cats at home, veterinarian Norma Rios ’82 has no trouble convincing her clients she considers pets a part of her life.

Sam Lagana ’84

Sam Lagana has been the stadium voice of the NFL Los Angeles Rams in the Coliseum for the past two years, since the team returned to the L.A. area.

Patrick Mullen ’93

Patrick Mullen, an an AFROTC cadet when he was a student, is a corporate pilot who operates a Gulfstream G650 and G-V in Portland, Oregon. The captain’s seat he occupies now is a thing to behold.

Malcolm Dicks ’94

Fire Capt. Malcolm Dicks is in charge of Los Angeles County Fire Station 125, in Calabasas, California. A paramedic as well as a firefighter, Dicks didn’t wait until after graduation to decide on a career. “I knew this was my…

Shoe Designer Henri Lepore Dessert ’11

Henri Lepore Dessert, who divides his time between the United States and Milan, works on every step in the shoe-making process, from the first sketches to the selection of materials and oversight of the hand-made creation of the shoes themselves.

Manny Romero ’97

Manny Romero ’97 works as the Sacramento Kings’ head athletic trainer where he uses cutting-edge monitoring technology to prevent injuries and improve injury recovery times.

Michael John ’77

Michael John is an actor, stage-fight trainer and expert in theatrical uses of combat weapons — has made his living wielding knives, daggers, pistols and swords. He has appeared in movies, TV and stage productions. As a Romulan in charge of weaponry, he has been blown up in Paramount’s television series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” He has performed frequently with the LA Opera, including a production of “Billy Budd” in 2014 in which he played the whip master.

Dirt Girl

Brenda (Kirsch) Frketich grew up on an Oregon farm. She left home to attend LMU, study business and probably go to law school. In the summer before her junior year, she took a desk job at an L.A. insurance company and had a backyard with a tiny strawberry patch. “You can’t get very dirty with that,” she says. Brenda missed the soil, the smell of dry grass and the annual summer harvest. She decided to return to the farm after graduation, her father’s farm, the farm she now runs.