'Congratulations ... Godspeed' to St. Mary School's Eighth-Grade Graduates

Nineteen eighth-graders took their last steps as St. Mary’s students through the doors of St. Mary’s Catholic Church Wednesday at 7 p.m. and left an hour and a half later as high school students, moving on in the world.

A classic Catholic Mass preceded a period of graduation exercises for the class of 2011, but the Rev. Charles McElroy, both pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and eighth-grade math teacher, made his homily specific to the occasion.

McElroy stressed the importance of learning from stories, and took his students back to the original story of Adam and Eve to address the age-old issues of good and evil. He expressed his confidence in the students’ learned ability to distinguish the differences between good and evil from their educations at the school, but also told them, “The consequences of our actions will determine what’s really good … There is always forgiveness.”

Concerning encouragement for all they have yet to learn, the reverend asked the students to keep their hearts open.

“The Holy Spirit can teach you,” he said.

After the homily, each student was given an envelope. Earlier in the year, the eighth-graders were asked to write one complimentary thing about every member of their class. The envelopes the students received during Mass contained these statements from their classmates.

Though the temptation was to open them and share them with one another, McElroy asked his students to read them to themselves, then to seal the envelopes. Those are for you, he told the students, not for everyone to see.

McElroy wanted to keep the memories special and private for each student, and he encouraged them to open the envelopes again at a later date and use the comments they contained to fondly remember the times they spent at St. Mary’s.

The students were given the opportunity to extend the sign of peace to their parents and families just before Communion with delicate flowers, proud smiles and genuine thanks.

During the graduation exercises, which followed Mass, the class was addressed by graduates Sean Camilleri and Timmy Freed. Sean compared his classmates and their educations to those of several saints and prominent figures such as Mother Teresa. He said to his classmates that these were “ordinary people like you who responded extraordinarily” in the world, encouraging the graduates to use all they have learned to go far in the world and be the best they can be.

Timmy, who is also the school’s Student Council president, spoke of the family they had created through their time at the school. He thanked his classmates for their friendship and support throughout his own time there, and left them with some sage advice to be true to their Catholic educations and all they had learned.

“Christian practices and common courtesies” had been stressed since their arrival at St. Mary’s, Timmy said, and these principles would be the foundations of good lives for them all.

St. Mary School principal Kevin Conwell congratulated his students, promising never to forget them.

“You will always be in our prayers,” he said.

Timmy Freed signed off by telling his classmates, “Congratulations, my friends, and godspeed.”

Editor's Note: This story has been changed; Timmy Freed was misidentified as Joshua Beck.