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Counselor Jon Aguilar and his wife Trina Aguilar, had their first child, a daughter named, Estelle Maryn Aguilar, on Dec. 7, 2019.

The Riordan community is experiencing a baby boom, as two teachers and two counselors recently welcomed new additions to their families.

Art teacher Irman Arcibal and his wife Robelene Novero had their firstborn child, a son named Ceferink Roman Novero Arcibal, named after Arcibal’s Grandfather, Ceferino Villanueva. He weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 20 inches long at birth. He was born on May 30, 2019 at 3:53 a.m. at Kaiser on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco.

Counselor Jon Aguilar and his wife Trina Aguilar, had their first child, a daughter named, Estelle Maryn Aguilar, on Dec. 7, 2019 at 5:25 p.m. Her name is translated as “Star of the Sea.” She weighed 6 pounds, 12ounces, and was 19.5 inches long at birth.

Religious studies teacher and soccer coach Michael So and his wife Angela So welcomed daughter Marguerite Eunae So, named after St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, CND. She was 7 pounds, 11.6 ounces, and 20.5 inches long the day she was born, on Oct. 12, 2019 at 6:28 p.m.

Counselor and baseball coach David Lin ’99 and his wife Shirley Cheung had their third child, a daughter, Naomi Rose Lin on Nov. 8, 2019, at Kaiser in Redwood City. She joins her two brothers, Nathan and Noah in the expanding Lin family.

Teachers and faculty of the Riordan community are hardworking people, many of whom also want to start a family. Once they have their newborns, they need to make time for them and stay on track with their work.

The challenge now remains, can they manage grading work with changing diapers? Fortunately, these professionals have shown and
proven that they are always ready for the challenge.

Arcibal felt relief after having a newborn child. He said he is “Exhilaratingly and happily exhausted.” Arcibal balances his time grading papers after he puts his son down for a nap. He added, “Most grading happens during the school day, after my son has been put to bed.”

While counselors do not grade papers, they do have to be available to check in with students for support and guidance while ensuring they
have time for their children.

Lin said, “Balance for me comes with the fact that I have my parents and my wife’s parents helping us. Not everyone has that luxury, but
because we do, we’re able to continue working.”

Lin added, “Part of the reason why I work hard to balance both is that I love my work and I love being around Riordan so I know I must put in more time and effort and schedule and plan out things ahead of time in order to make things work. Also, incorporating my boys into the community makes it easy. I bring them to games, my morning workouts sometimes, and just meshing the two as much as possible keeps everyone happy.”

Aguilar said, “As a first-time father, I’m excited to show my daughter the world and to see her grow into her own.”

He added, “Balancing work and personal life is always going to be difficult, but I’m excited for the challenge and really believe that being a father will help me be a better counselor, and that will help me be a better father.”

College Counselor Melissa Nagar, who has had two children while working at Riordan, offered some advice and shared her personal experience. She said, “You got this! Take it one day at a time. Every day isn’t going to be hard and you’ll slowly gain confidence. Enjoy all the small moments and accept your friends and family’s help!”