Congratulations, VASJ Class of 2013

VASJ held its annual Baccalaureate service to honor and recognize the graduating Class of 2013 on Friday, May 24, in the VASJ gym. For the second year in a row, 100 percent of VASJ’s graduates are heading to college and earned over $3.4 million in college scholarships.

The theme chosen for the service was A Time to Harvest. “God is the gardener and we are the seeds,” said Jazmine Dowdley ’13.

VASJ’s Chaplain Fr. Jim Bartlett, SM blessed the class with incense before giving words of wisdom to the graduating seniors in his homily. “None of us can change the world,” Fr. Jim said. “But every one of us can make a difference.”

A presentation of special awards was presented at the conclusion of the Baccalaureate before the graduates headed to Tizzano’s Party Center for their senior luncheon. “I’ve probably made the best friends of my life here,” senior Emily Oligny said to her classmates during the luncheon.

After lunch, President Richard Osborne ’69 presented each of the graduates with a Viking lapel pin, signifying their official induction into the ranks of VASJ alumni.

“Wherever life leads you, this is your home,” Osborne said to the class.

The twenty-third annual commencement ceremony was held on Sunday, May 26, at Ss. Robert and William Church and the graduates couldn’t have asked for better weather on their big day.

There was a commonality among the student speeches at graduation. Each of the four students who spoke used the opportunity to thank the people who helped them make it to the “finish line,” as Jasmine Ross referred to it.

Whether it was their parents who sacrificed to give them the gift of a Catholic education, their teachers who pushed them to reach their full academic potential, their coaches for teaching them life lessons on and off the court, their religion teachers for helping them grow in their spirituality, or their classmates who helped fill the four years with wonderful memories, each student recognized that they couldn’t have done it alone.

At the conclusion of the commencement ceremony, after the diplomas had been distributed and the graduates were singing the alma mater together one last time, it became clear just how close the Class of 2013 had become to one another when the tears started flowing during the song.

They came into their high school career at VASJ as classmates but there is no doubt that the Class of 2013 is leaving the Viking Village as a family.

Best of luck, graduates. May God bless you always.

View photos from baccalaureate and commencement.