Cathedral graduates commended for resilience as they complete high school careers

Cathedral High school celebrated another 100% graduation rate year with all 103 seniors receiving diplomas Friday.

Principal Kathryn Crispo acknowledged the hardships that many graduating seniors went through. "Dealing with a historical pandemic, all of you had to make difficult decisions... this is the best decision you made," she told members of the class who were sophomores when the pandemic began.

This year's Cathedral valedictorian is Irina Pecherskia, a foreign exchange student from Russia and self-declared "academic nerd" who gave a heartwarming speech to her teachers and peers. "Thank you for making my Americanization process easer."

More: 123 graduates finish their time at Albany High School

The final speaker before the diplomas were bestowed was given by Molly Weyrens, a pastoral associate and 1987 graduate. Like Crispo, Weyrens pointed out very recent events such as the Uvalde, Texas, shooting and George Floyd's murder, and asked the students "what we can learn" from such events.

On Wednesday, the Cathedral class of 2022 had their baccalaureate Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral where they have a faculty speaker address the students after the Mass. This year was Bob Bjornstad who completed his 40th year as the school's health and driver's education teacher.

This story has been corrected after being alerted that Bob Bjornstad is not retiring and that he worked 40 years instead of 39.

Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa is the education reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach him agaafarelkhalifa@stcloudtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @AbdullaGaafare1

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Cathedral class of 2022 commended for resilience as they graduate