As the 55th graduating
class of Bishop Brady High School sat under the bright lights of their gym one last time, they took time to reflect on what makes a high school experience great.
For some, that meant acknowledging how far the class of 94 students had come as a group.
“We’ve grown, whether we want to acknowledge it or not,” said salutatorian Sara Guay, noting the moments that made up her peers’ growth happened in the big and small moments.
Big moments like class trips, community service hours and championship games. But the little moments that made up their day-to-day lives mattered, too, Guay said. Moments like carpooling, or getting breakfast, or suffering through Monday meetings, or playing the online game Fortnite as a group, a reference that earned her a small cheer from her peers.
And those little moments proved one thing to valedictorian Emma Bradley: None of her classmates would have gotten to this point without a simple Latin phrase deeply rooted in Christian belief.
“Agape, the highest form of human love,” Bradley said, a feeling she learned and experienced within the walls of Bishop Brady. Through agape, Bradley said she’d learned how to pay attention, be astonished, and tell the world about her faith and experiences.
And through agape, she learned what it meant to care for her peers, Bradley said. And there was no better way to sum that idea up than a shout-out to Disney classic High School Musical.
“We really are all in this together,” she said.
For principal Andrea Elliot, watching the students grow was especially poignant, as she had started her career at Bishop Brady four years ago. Like her students, she entered with hopes and dreams, expectations of what their time at the school would be like.
“I think of when I first met you, and how graduation seemed so far away then,” she said.
Elliot challenged the group to not give up in their pursuit of excellence. “Work hard, stand up for what you believe in, and whatever you do, be the best you can be at it,” she said.
But the Class of 2018 weren’t the
only members of the Bishop Brady community preparing to leave. Elliot acknowledged the departure of assistant principal of academics Joy Degnan, who has spent a collective 50 years at Bishop Brady, first as a student, then as a teacher, and finally as an administrator.
“She was supposed to retire four years ago, but stayed on to train the next administrator – me,” Elliot said. “Your knowledge of the faculty, staff, students and everything Bishop Brady is immeasurable.”
But speakers kept their remarks relatively short; all after, their next step was just outside the school’s gymnasium doors.
For some students, “next” means headed to college, a sports team, a trade apprenticeship, or – for the half-dozen exchange students – home.
“We’re ready to begin our new lives,” Guay said. “To heck with speeches; it’s time for us to start.”
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)