A total of 25 St. Vincent seniors spent their final moments together as a full class on Sunday during the graduation ceremony May 19.
Valedictorian Ava Layton found herself wishing for the day that her time at St. Vincent would end. However, she got a message that changed her mind.
“Don’t wish away the time,” Layton said. “Not just with school, but with other parts of our life. When we are wishing the time away we are not fully focused on what is right in front of us. When we were little, we wanted to be just like the big kinds. Now that we are the big kids we want to be adults. I got a bad case of senioritis and was ready for it all to be over. I was told to stop that thinking right now, or I would think that way forever. If we are constantly thinking ahead, we miss the present. We will soon be engaged, married, having kids, and soon we will be old, wishing we were babies again.”
Commencement speaker Dr. Theresa Bert recounted the time she applied for Yale, and when the letter came in she would not look at it for fear of rejection. However, her boyfriend, now husband, encouraged her to finally read the letter. It turned out she was accepted and had received a full-ride with 100 percent of the costs paid for through scholarship.
The Sereno native told the graduates, “If I can do that, then you can too,” Bert said. “I know that some of you are smarter than me and if you continue to work hard there is nothing you can’t do. The thing I learned is if you reach for something that may be a little bit out of reach, you just might get it and it could change your life.”
Salutatorian Maria Wibbenmeyer used the importance of the. St. Vincent school crest, which signifies three pillars of SV: Religio, Scientia, and Cultura
“These three concepts are the foundation of St. Vincent Catholic schools. We are called to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and part of that is also loving others. Scientia refers to the knowledge that we gain while at St. Vincent. We have learned to have strong relationships with our peers. Cultura gives us a strong foundation to walk on that helps us build our lives. It is that culture that will help us as we enter adulthood.”
