SJCHS commencement

IntermouIC photo/Marie Mischel

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St. Joseph Catholic High School students react after the Rite of Changing the Tassel during the May 24 commencement.

OGDEN — With “Pomp and Circumstance,” a few laughs and maybe some tears, the St. Joseph Catholic High School Class of 2019 held its Commencement Exercises May 24 at St. Joseph Catholic Church.

Of the 49 graduates, 13 were Honor Graduates, 12 were members of the National Honor Society, and 17 were AP Scholars. Collectively they earned $ 7.7 million in scholarship monies.

The salutatorian, Sydney Brown, said she wouldn’t cry as she had done four years previously, when she gave the farewell address to their 8th-grade class.

“Once again, we have to say goodbye in order to move onto bigger and better things, but this time, it feels a little bit more painful, and though we know that we have to move on from here to achieve greatness, it doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier,” said Brown, who attended St. Joseph Catholic Schools from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The Class of 2019 was “constantly criticized for our bad behavior. … But I always saw the good and the love that each member of our class holds deep in their heart. Our class may be a bit rough around the edges, but we have always been focused on what is really important: making sure that everyone felt included, loved, and worth something,” Brown said. “Let’s be honest: Life sucks. Bad things happen to good people, and good people end up being hurt over and over again for trying to do what is right. What makes our class stand out is that we’ve never let that stop us. We have taken hit after hit in order to defend the people and things we believe in and love, and we have only become stronger for it. Our class is constructed of a variety of different individuals, each with their own talents, but we have come together to form a team that loves each other above all else, and have created bonds that are unbreakable.”

Acknowledging that “becoming the people we are today isn’t something we ever could’ve accomplished alone,” Brown thanked the school’s teachers, faculty and staff, as well as family and friends.

Valedictorian Madeleine Holl also thanked family and friends, the school’s faculty and staff, and her fellow classmates. She suggested that, for the graduates, it was a time to be hopeful as well as thankful, because their time at St. Joseph CHS was approximately 5 percent of their lives, “and we have learned enough math to know we have most of our lives ahead of us.  …  Amidst the fears and doubts as we face the future, there is also excitement, and with good reason. In the next 5 percent, we’ll have more opportunities to take risks and to find adventure – to fail sometimes, yes – but also to meet people, to see horizons, to learn more. May the fear of failure never deter us from pursuing our interests and passions or God’s beauty and truth. … May we go into the next 5 percent of our lives ready to challenge our beliefs and capabilities, because in God’s purpose and calling, we can have firm hope of victory in whatever life throws at us.  Knowing the possibilities that lie ahead, let us thank the people that have guided us to this point and carry on with the hope that always ignites us on our way.”

The keynote address was given by John Lee, who teaches theology, campus ministry and religious literature at the school. In his remarks, Lee told the graduates that human beings are inherently narrative creatures who tell stories, and “the first step to becoming happy is recognizing that we already live within a narrative that has either been written for us by society, or written by us subconsciously, the default setting of our story-telling brains.”

A second step to happiness is to consciously recalibrate the mind to live in the narrative of love, and the third step is to do small things with great love, he said.

“These are the three secrets to happiness, because the happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy, has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist,” Lee said.

In his remarks at the end of the ceremony, SJCHS Principal Clay Jones thanked the parents of the Class of 2019, which was the first to have him for four years as principal. He also thanked the graduates.

“I always tell the graduating classes this: You are now closing a chapter in your life, but don’t make it the best chapter,” Jones said. “Let it be a great beginning to a wonderfully bright future. … Go out and grab life by the proverbial horns. Always show your Saint Joseph charisms, knowledge, and pride wherever you go.”