ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
The St. Mary’s graduating class of 2017 celebrates.
By MATT DEMIRS
LYNN — Rain didn’t stop the 84 St. Mary’s High School graduates as officials, teachers, parents, and friends gathered at Lynn Memorial Auditorium for the Class of 2017 commencement.
“People say time flies when you’re having fun,” said Katie Cadigan, salutatorian. “Time flies during the good and the bad. It has the power to rob you, and the power to give.”
Grace Cotter Regan, head of school, advised students to look at time as it flies by and find grace moments.
Those moments provide spiritual and personal growth, she said.
“Ask yourself what lights you up as you move forward and go with what that is,” she said.
Valedictorian Michael Cerulli, who will attend Boston College in September, compared the graduation from St. Mary’s to an interview he watched with former Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant.
The reporter asked Bryant if he missed playing in the National Basketball Association.
“No, the NBA is always a part of me,” he said.
Cerulli’s said graduation from St. Mary’s is a lot like Bryant’s exit from the NBA.
“Although we are leaving St. Mary’s, we should never think of St. Mary’s leaving us,” he said “Everything we know stems from what we learned here.”
He went on to list the accomplishments and milestones he and his classmates achieved, such as state championships, an award-winning drama production, and the outstanding college selections of his peers.
“I’d like to think all these remarkable achievements aren’t a coincidence,” Cerulli said.
Alumnus John J. Green, who graduated in 1967, spoke to the Spartans after being in their position 50 years ago.
“Today, you join a very special club of 12,000 members,” he said. “You are an alum.”
Green discussed the changes at the school since he graduated, including the cost of St. Mary’s tuition, which was just $50 dollars in the 1960s.
“What hasn’t changed is the amount of students moving on to higher education,” he said. “In my day, we had about 95 percent of our class moving on to higher education. The same goes for today, with over 95 percent of graduates moving on to colleges and universities, a percentage that is higher than the Massachusetts average of 75 percent and the 65 percent national average.”
Regan said the environment at St. Mary’s has impacted graduates and prepared them for their next adventure.
“There’s a culture of care, compassion, and love that differentiates St. Mary’s from any other school,” she said.
Matt Demirs can be reached at [email protected]
