“Graduates, we’re here to celebrate you and your accomplishments,” St. Edmond Catholic School President Mary Gibb said to open the commencement ceremony in the high school gym on Sunday afternoon.

Gibb continued that the 37 Gael graduates in the Class of 2021 have been awarded $1.5 million in college scholarships and have already earned 560 college credits.

Class speaker Hallie Ehn started her speech with a memory of starting as a kindergartner at St. Edmond, when she and her classmates were given their hot lunch ID numbers — a four-digit number that included the digits “21.”

“Why?” they asked their teachers. Because they would be the graduating class of 2021 was the answer.

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St. Edmond graduate Kase Baker embraces his dad, St. Edmond school board member Todd Baker, after the senior Baker presented him with his high school diploma during the commencement ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

“As a tiny kindergartner, impatient as I was, 2021 seemed like a lifetime away,” Ehn said. “There was no way our time would ever come.”

On Sunday, the time had finally come for the Gael graduates to walk across the stage and collect their hard-earned high school diplomas from St. Edmond Catholic School Board Chair Ann Freser. The time had finally come to grab hold of their graduation tassels and confidently carry them over from the right side to the left side of their caps. The time had finally come to throw those graduation caps in the air and make their paths into the world.

“Throughout a year of disappointment, loss and unbelievable circumstances, we are still standing,” Ehn told her soon-to-be former classmates. “We are still thriving and we are still persevering through the overwhelming reality of life in today’s world. Our senior year has been anything but normal.”

Throughout their time as Gaels, the graduates learned more from their teachers than just what was in the class syllabus, Ehn said.

“Dr. (William) Chou teaches us that you are never too old or too experienced to learn something new,” she said. “Mrs. (Sarah) Cosgrove teaches us that you will run into hard times, but none will be as hard as Honors English.”

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St. Edmond graduate Thornton Aljets applauds the successes of his fellow classmates during Sunday's commencement ceremony.

Matt Dillon, high school business teacher, showed the students that rebuilding from the ground up and putting in the hard work can yield wonderful rewards, she continued.

It is those lessons — and many others shared by other teachers — that the Class of 2021 will be taking with them out into the world.

“No matter where we end up, who we meet or what we do, we will always be connected,” Ehn said. “We will always be able to think back to our glory days of St. Edmond.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
St. Edmond graduate Aubrey Bemrich laughs at a joke in classmate Hallie Ehn's speech during the commencement ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

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St. Edmond graduate Hallie Ehn delivers the class speech at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2021 on Sunday afternoon.

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St. Edmond Catholic High School graduates applaud the achievements of their fellow graduates during Sunday's commencement ceremony.

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St. Edmond graduates Sydney Schulte, Devin Wirtz and high school business teacher Matt Dillon, help graduate Ruihui Xu get his graduation tassel attached to his cap prior to Sunday's commencement ceremony.

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Brand-new graduates of St. Edmond Catholic High School move their tassels from the right to the left, signifying their commencement on Sunday afternoon.

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St. Edmond graduate Avery Galles smiles as she searches for her family in the stands at the Class of 2021 commencement ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

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St. Edmond graduate Morgan Bockoven holds up her diploma holder during the commencement ceremony on Sunday afternoon.