The members of the class of 2022 love their Catholic schools as much as any classes before them. Their alma mater’s hallowed halls feel like home. Their classmates, teachers and school staff feel like family. The curriculum taught them everything they need to know for a bright future.
These are the things our Catholic high school graduates share each year in The Record’s Graduation Issue, which is part of this week’s edition.
If you read the individual essays, though — and resist the urge to only read the essays that represent your alma mater — you’ll start to find something more in each one.
First, you’ll realize it’s good that nearly every student mentions family or home in reference to their school. It’s not trite, it’s true.
The family is the first teacher of a student’s faith. It’s where a child learns to love and be loved. Where there is love, there is Christ, there is God. And with God, we are free — free to learn and to love — both ourselves and others.
If our schools have learned to create communities that feel like families and buildings that feel like home, they have excelled beyond expectation.
That’s the first thing readers might notice in this year’s senior essays.
Beyond the usual family and home metaphors, though, readers will also find some unique stories.
Take LaDarion Montgomery’s essay. He paints a vivid image of a sophomore joining Bethlehem High School — his first time in a Catholic school.
“On my first day at Bethlehem, I walked in with a collared shirt, my custom-made khakis with the Bethlehem star imprinted on the back, and Jordan’s on my feet,” he writes.
“As I strode through the doors, I felt a warm welcoming love, as if you had just been introduced to your cousins that you met for the first time. I saw familiar faces at Bethlehem because of how small of a town Bardstown is, but I didn’t really know anybody.”
You can see him striding through hallways, can’t you?
“Those classmates that I was just meeting for the first time, that I now call family, approached me with such great big smiles and great vibes,” he adds.
LaDarion gets pretty serious as his essay goes on. He explains that he found faith in God at Bethlehem and now he prays daily. His school changed his faith life.
You can read more about LaDarion and the other seniors from Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Louisville in their own words in this week’s B Section.
Their words give us a generous look into the values their schools impart. The students took the lessons to heart. Their teachers and school leaders should feel proud of their good work.
MARNIE McALLISTER
Editor
