Congratulations to Immaculate Conception Catholic Regional School’s Class of 2017!
Congratulations to Immaculate Conception Catholic Regional School’s 8th grade class of 2017! Our amazing graduates celebrated their Graduation Mass with our Parish community on Sunday, June 4th. One of the graduates, Spencer L., was selected by the school’s administration and Father Wilson to give a speech at this special Mass. Spencer’s speech is included below. Also, a part of our Graduation Mass was the presentation of the Monsignor Cerrito Award. One boy and one girl is selected out of the graduating class to receive this award, which is the highest award an Immaculate Conception student can earn. Congratulations to Robert S. and Ellia S. for winning this prestigious award! Our commencement exercises were held on June 5th with an intimate ceremony with family and friends in our Church. Congratulations graduates on your hard work. We are so proud of you!
Spencer’s Gradation Speech:
As we prepare to embark on the next part of our life’s journey, what is the one thing we should take with us from our time at Immaculate Conception? There are so many to choose from- our friendships, our memories, and so much more. But one thing we should never forget is something we have heard repeatedly over the years, our school’s motto, “Character through Faith”. But what does this mean and how do we take it with us? It is simple, it means doing what is right, living our lives by making decisions without hope of reward or even being noticed. For me, this means regardless of who is around, or who will see, or notice, we are called to help others and we should do this not for ourselves, or for recognition, but rather, that in the heart of those we help they can feel a change and strive to do the same for others as we have done unto them. We do this to spread Jesus’s love and message across the world slowly but surely.
At Immaculate Conception just as we value Catholic education, we value bringing Jesus into our education and into our whole life in all ways. This gives us the chance to develop a closer relationship with Jesus, and share that relationship with those around us. One of the values of a Catholic education is the higher standards brought about calling us to always do our best in everything. Our teachers do not just expect this of us, they show us how to do it by expecting it of themselves. While being a student here I have learned lessons in academics which have prepared me well, but I have also learned real life skills such as respect, organization, honoring a commitment and time management. Recently, while in D.C., I quickly learned how being up and ready on my own, being at locations for certain times, are not only skills I will need in the future, but are also important values in demonstrating respect for others and their time, and the effort put into making the trip so full of experiences by keeping to these schedules. Through his personal demonstration, Mr. Galligan taught me what being a working and participatory part of a group meant and how important it is, so I would like to thank him in particular, but also all the chaperones and adults who helped us grow throughout that trip.
Our graduating class is special in so many ways. One way we are special is in how different we all are and also stay true to ourselves, yet we get along so well and we are all kind to one another, there is no “Oh I will only hang out with so and so”. Within our class we formed a school family, and like a true family, we all came at different times along the way, but yet that didn’t make us any less a part of the family. This makes our school special, as does the fact we can all be friends in spite of our differences, have disagreements then work them out, be together and have a good time. This is one thing I will definitely miss about Immaculate, the friends I have made and all the memories we have created. I know it will be hard for us as we all move on to our separate high schools, but I know we will represent Immaculate well because we were taught to be respectful, supportive, faithful, and to be good people to everyone.
As I leave Immaculate Conception, I leave as a better person, a person with a better character, a more faithful character and a stronger individual to be true to who I am and will be. I know I couldn’t have done it without the support of three special groups of people I would like to thank. First, I need to thank all of the teachers and staff here at Immaculate, past and present. The greatest quality one can possess is selflessness and our teachers embody it in all they do. In life, if you cannot do the small things right, you will not be able to do the big things right either. Our teachers showed us how everything matters by starting with the little things. They gave us the puzzle pieces and now it is our job to use those pieces to put together our own unique puzzles of our lives. The second group I would like to thank are my fellow graduates. You all have given me the freedom, acceptance and support to be, and to grow, as I feel is right for me. In many schools, classmates would try to judge anyone who does not fit into a special role they deem is important. We have not done this to one another, we have encouraged each other to find what is right for us, as individuals, and supported each other to do just that. This is a fine example of us showing how our Faith has defined our character. The final set of people I must thank are my parents. We all come from different backgrounds, we all have different reasons for being an Immaculate student. My true reason for being here is my faith, and my parents gave me the ability to explore that in all I did, instead of just being able to do it on my own time, as I would have had to do in a public school. I cannot thank my parents enough for making the sacrifice to give me a great catholic education. Just because it was important to me, it was important to them. This is love, this is support and this is faith building character.
Finally, I would like to end by saying that one of the greatest things we can do for ourselves, and as graduates of Immaculate Conception, is decide who we want to be in life, how we want to be that person, what we want to achieve, and when we achieve these things, to not settle for them. Rather, keep going because we have only taken the first step up the staircase of life, a staircase that represents all we can truly achieve. But we have to take action to climb that staircase higher and higher without wasting the gift of time. We must realize as time goes on, time can take things away from us: it takes away certain opportunities, it takes away us being able to do things we might want to do, it takes achievements we may never gain and it can take away people we can learn from. But it also leaves something behind, experience and memories. These experiences tell us what steps we need to take to climb that staircase and the chance of creating memories is what is going to motivate us to keep climbing up that staircase. But most important, if we do not allow it to, time cannot take away our Character or our Faith, which Immaculate Conception has taught us is one in the same…..our Faith is shown by our Character and our Character should show our Faith. So in all things, now and in the future, show your Faith through your Character.
