St. Paul's holds first graduation

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press 

Rising above difficulties, even death, were repeated themes at the first graduation of St. Paul Diocesan Junior/Senior High School, held with a baccalaureate Mass Saturday on the school’s football field. 

And the unity the school community showed as two institutions were merged to form this new school was held up as an example for a divided nation. 

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in the spring of 2020 schools transitioned to remote learning, and did not reopen before the end of the academic year. That was the final year for Holy Name and St. Peter-Marian, the diocese’s two central Catholic junior/senior high schools in Worcester. They were merged to form St. Paul, which opened this fall on Holy Name’s renovated campus. 

Bishop McManus and Michael Clark, head of school, presented diplomas to St. Paul’s first graduating class. 

One of the 158 diplomas was awarded posthumously – to Zachary Hare – who Mr. Clark said died on Dec. 22, 2020, after a long bout with cancer. He said Zachary’s family received his diploma privately.  

Several diplomas were awarded in absentia, he said, because international students dealing with COVID and visa issues finished their education remotely from their home countries. 

Mr. Clark presented Dominic Porcaro with the first St. Paul Knights Award. This award is to be to be given annually to a graduate “who has demonstrated outstanding qualities of lifelong learning, servant leadership, and Christian virtue,” and represents the best attributes of all St. Paul Knights.  

Dominic was class president for three years at Holy Name and this year he was one of two presidents at St. Paul, Mr. Clark said.   

Dominic was on the Student Life Steering Committee that helped with the merger, and welcomed students to St. Paul’s on their arrival, Mr. Clark said.  

“He’s been giving of himself since he was a child,” his grandmother Rose Porcaro told The Catholic Free Press. She said she knew he was the awardee when Mr. Clark recounted how Dominic, as a third-grader, opened other students’ milk cartons for them, sometimes forgetting to eat his own lunch. 

Luke Neri, who was class president at St. Peter-Marian last year, was the other class president at St. Paul. The two presidents welcomed everybody at the start of the graduation Saturday.  

The valedictorians – Jared Bailey from St. Peter-Marian and Cristianna Giovanangelo Nicotera from Holy Name – spoke. The salutatorians – Emily Goodall from St. Peter-Marian and Cadence Dimen from Holy Name – led the turning of the tassels. 

Ordinarily a class has one valedictorian and one salutatorian, but given the extraordinary year and academic dedication, and the merger of schools with different grading systems, “it seemed the most equitable thing” to have two of each, Mr. Clark said.  

“Sure, our parents can say all they want about, ‘Back in my day …’ But they never had to go to school during a merger and a pandemic,” Jared said in his talk. He joked about homebound students happy to sleep between classes, but said the pandemic affected the way they had to learn.  

“The merger was arguably a more impressive feat,” he said. “The fact that we were able to come together as one, harmonious school community, with, to my knowledge, no incidents, is an amazing accomplishment. It truly is a testament to what the world could be like, especially in a country so plagued by vicious and drastic divides.” If rival schools can do that, there’s no reason why individuals with differences can’t, he said. He thanked the Holy Name community for “welcoming us SPM people into your home and treating us like one of your own.” 

Speaking of lessons graduates can take with them, he held up their deceased classmate as an example. 

“I saw that Zach was a confident, happy, funny kid,” he said. “Once I learned that he had been battling cancer since he was a little boy, though, my respect for him increased tenfold. To think that here was a kid, who not only stared into the face of death for years, not knowing how much time he had left, but did it with a smile.”  

He marveled at Zachary pursuing his goals and asked, “Why should we not reach for our dreams? … Why do we not live each day as if it was our last?” 

Jared challenged classmates to pursue their interests and not compare themselves with anyone but the person they were yesterday, thanked his parents and sister and said with humor that their class is the best senior class the school has ever seen. 

Fellow valedictorian Cristianna also mentioned challenges the class faced; thanked them, their teachers and her family, and shared high school memories.  

“Bad memories, like good ones, make us who we are,” she said. 

Bishop McManus told graduates they arrived at this point by God’s grace and the support of their families and school leaders. 

He mentioned the school’s motto, “Fortior Unus” (Stronger Together) and spoke of them being unified. He urged them to love all that is good, true and beautiful, because those things come from God. 

Mr. Clark said they were celebrating things that are always good, including faith, scholarship, dedication and perseverance, and, “perhaps most important of all, we celebrate these things together.”    

“We are so incredibly … proud of you,” school chaplain Father Donato Infante III told graduates. He noted that they had to leave school before the end of last year and never got to mourn fully their schools’ closing, they lost a classmate and lived through a pandemic, but they succeeded in graduating.  

They learned academic subjects, which are important, but not the most important, he said. Love is more important, as their patron St. Paul said in Scripture.  

“As you are sent forth from here … go with the love of God … that you might live out the most important lesson … you are loved by God, the people around you are loved by God,” Father Infante said. So everyone must be kind to all.  

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