Alumnae

Veritas & SAYPO Awards

Alumna Veritas Award

The St. Agnes Academy Alumnae Veritas Award and is awarded each year to an alumna that exhibits dedication to the St. Agnes community, and the community as a whole; as well compassion for humanity and achievements academically, professionally, and/or in leadership roles. It was established in 2004 and since then, the St. Agnes Academy Alumnae Board and St. Agnes Young Professionals Organization Board honors an alumna with the Veritas Award.

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2019 Veritas Award Winner

Congratulations to 2019 Veritas Award winner ALYSSA PARRISH BUBLEWICZ ’97!
Alyssa is the 2019 runner-up for the Leukemia Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Woman of the Year. In ten-weeks she raised an incredible $417,000 - the highest amount any runner-up has raised in Houston, or the nation - for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The LLS Man & Woman of the Year is philanthropic competition to support blood cancer research among a group of motivated and dedicated individuals in communities across the United States. The 2019 Houston candidate class raised a record-breaking $1,875,848. Alyssa says, “This was so much more than titles and winning; it was about giving cancer the boot!”

In 2018, Alyssa was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (“CML”); it was caught just on the cusp of it going more advanced and she was told she would have this cancer for the rest of her life. This was her inspiration to support the LLS Woman of the Year Campaign and help put an end to blood cancer.
Alyssa is General Counsel at Partners Surgical, LLC. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Houston and her Doctor in Jurisprudence in Health Law form Texas Tech University School of Law. She is married to Michael Bublewicz and has two beautiful daughters.
Veritas Award Past Recipients

2018 – Lauri Schneidau Ruiz '77
2017 – Shannon Beirne Wiesedeppe ’90
2016 – Katie Upton Daily ’96
2015 - Diane Knebel Watler ’72
2014 – Conception Diaz-Arrastia Green ’78
2013 – Carolyn Carbajal McCairns ’57
2012 - Sr. Carol Mayes, O.P. '56
2011 - Charla Ward Trader '64
2010 - Mary Ann Chambers '57
2009 - Debbie Sieck '87
2008 - Kathy Kokas '73
2007 - Janet Kingham Greenwood '57
2006 - Sister Therese Warden, O.P. '51
2005 - Eileen Antill '51
2004 - Calista Schneidau Herbert '69

SAYPO Award

The SAYPO (St. Agnes Young Professionals Organization) Award recognizes an individual who is pursuing excellence in her career and is an outstanding representative of St. Agnes in the community. It was established in 2015 and is voted on annually by the SAYPO Board.

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2019 St. Agnes Young Professionals Organization (SAYPO) Award Winner

Congratulations to 2019 SAYPO Award winner Annie Rupani Farino ‘07!

Annie owns Cacao & Cardamom Chocolatier, which made the 2018 Entrepreneur 360™ List! Entrepreneur Magazine identifies 360 small businesses each year that are mastering the art and science of growing a business. Companies apply and are evaluated based on five metrics: impact, innovation, growth, leadership and business valuation.

Annie opened Cacao & Cardamom in 2012. She studied anthropology and religion at Boston University and abroad in London and Amman. During her travels, she gained a special appreciation for food and began her love affair with the culinary arts. Coming from a South Asian background, the smell of cardamom, cumin, coriander, fennel, and fenugreek were spices that flowed through her house, but were rarely appreciated until she began to see food in a different light. After she graduated from Boston University, she began studying for the law school admissions exam and took breaks by reading books about chocolatiering. This led to ordering 30 lbs. of coverture chocolate, a mini-tempering machine, and a very messy kitchen. Three days after the test date, Annie made her way to Pakistan where she spent six months working on Early Childhood Development projects. There, she found a pastry school in Malaysia and attended a week of chocolatiering courses. Once back in Houston, what was just a week-long break from the LSATs turned into a passion for the art of chocolate. What followed was the infusion of flavors from her upbringing and travels, which is now Cacao & Cardamom Chocolatiers.

Annie catered her chocolates for the St. Agnes reunion in 2013, and in 2017 she hosted a young alumnae event at her shop titled “Chocolate, Wine and Wellness” where she shared her success story with alumnae. She married Dominic Farino in 2018.
SAYPO Award Past Recipients

2018 – Ammie Hudson Blahuta '98
2017- Madeline Burns ’09
2016 – Sara Brandino Elias ’99
2015 (Inaugural) - Andrea Ivey Phillips ’04