When you look at Mercy on the outside, you see an all-girl STEM certified, Blue Ribbon, performance-based school, which is very impressive.

What I think lies beyond the front doors is much more extraordinary. The loving community the school possesses, the feeling of being home when you first walk through the doors and the carpets, illustrate Mercy’s unique atmosphere that is hard to find or match.

Your parents always say, “ ‘high school will go by faster than you know it.’ ” And you’re like, “Okay mom, whatever.”

Our time at Mercy did fly by. Now we are graduating, carrying with us all of the experiences Mercy has provided us. We have created families here. We traveled to Europe, Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic. We have been challenged academically and socially to better ourselves. We have been given opportunities both inside and outside of Mercy that help us put our foot in the door of amazing things in this world. Most importantly, we have learned what it means to be a Mercy girl.

From the first day freshman year, we have been instituted with the beliefs of our school that show us how to be Mercy girls. Our theme this year was “Nevertheless, she persisted like a Mercy girl.”

This truly captures the essence of our school body. Seniors are finally able to fully understand what it means to be a part of that school body; what it means to be a Mercy girl.

A Mercy girl is kind, courageous, strong and independent. She speaks out against injustices and cares for those in need.

She is a scientist, an engineer, an actress, a teacher; she is anything she wants to be because she can do anything she wants to do.

She demands to be heard and she persists through all. Now that we know what it means to be a Mercy girl, we must go out and share it in the world. We will leave, go to college and get jobs.

We might forget some names, we may forget what we wore to the winter dance or what our walk theme was, but we will never forget what it means to be a Mercy girl.

I am fully confident that one day, years from now, we will go out into the world and see something beautiful and we will be able to say, “A Mercy girl did that.”

Seniors are now Mercy women. We have grasped the meaning of these ideals that have been set forth for us and went above and beyond with them. You show your families how important a Mercy education is; something we will forever be grateful for.

I do not think we can ever repay our parents for this experience, but we can grow as individuals now that we have been given the tools to prosper in this world.

Our time here at Mercy is now up, but it has given us the world, and I know every single one of us will take advantage it.

Another class will come in and take our place, but we have forever left our mark here and will continue to pass on the ideals we have chosen to embody.

We will do this because the circle of Mercy is timeless. It is spirit and life itself. We will carry that spirit with us as we take our next steps in life.