Notre Dame Academy graduates 'are ready to change the world'
HINGHAM – Graduating from high school represents the biggest change in their lives so far, Emily Breen told her classmates at Notre Dame Academy's 170th commencement ceremony.
Breen was selected from among the 83 members of the class to serve as the graduation speaker at the ceremony, held in a tent on the school's athletic field.
"Change can be scary, but it is the way we make our impact on the world," she said.
Breen said change empowers, and urged her classmates to embrace it with open arms.
"We are ready to change the world," Breen said. "Let's go out in the world and make a positive difference, because it is our turn to do the change."
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School President Annemarie Lynch Kenneally, a 1980 graduate, said that based on its record of successes, "this is a class to watch."
She described the young graduates as "filled with grace and grit" and ready to be leaders.
"No one can dim your light. No one can turn your volume down," Kenneally said.
The keynote speaker at the ceremony was retired Navy Rear Adm. Margaret DeLuca Klein, a 1975 graduate and chairwoman of the school's board of directors.
In a career that broke barriers both inside and outside the Navy, Klein said, "I owed much of my success to the confidence I gained at Notre Dame Academy."
Klein urged the graduates to use their education, service and faith to make the world a better place. She had four pieces of advice for the graduates: learn with curiosity, lead with humility, excel and be grateful.
Aisling McLaughlin was honored at the ceremony as the class valedictorian, Colleen Kennedy as its salutatorian.
The Class of 2023
Abington: Margaret Sullivan.
Boston: Michaela Mahoney.
Braintree: Gianna Campanale, Carden Costello, Sandra Ictech, Serafina Polizio, Isabella Roy, Erin White.
Cohasset: Delaney Carnes, Claire Harvey, Charlotte Ivimey, Katherine Naughton, Emmy Rafferty, Keira Ryan, Emma Watts.
Duxbury: Emily Breen, Norah O'Keeffe, Meghan Ravanesi.
Hanover: Meghan Ravanesi, Emma McCormick, Ashi Patel, Calleigh Shields, Lauren White.
Hingham: Meghan Chase, Anna Clair, Sadie Finnerty, Summer Foraste, Caroline Holland, Colleen Kennedy, Clare Kerrigan, Gillian Mohr, Claudia Montenegro, Lindsey Welch.
Hull: Laudelene O'Connor, Sophia Villela.
Kingston: Madison Eklund, Brianna Keating, Alexa Mayo.
Marshfield: Isabelle Apostol, Julia Armstrong, Grace Burgoyne, Lily DeGiacomo, Margueritte Donahue, Emily Lembo, Sydney Oakley, Shannon Walker, Caroline Wright.
Milton: Alexa Kenney.
Norwell: Michaela Knowles, Bella La Grassa, Grace Martiny, Aimee Schaffer, Olivia Sweeney.
Pembroke: Ava Guilbeault, Genevieve Hayes, Emma Kates, Kate McCormack.
Plymouth: Ava Wagner, Chloe Tougas.
Quincy: Farrah Borkowski, Javlyn Jean-Pierre, Julia Ormond, Lindsey Packard, Ella Stafford.
Randolph: Jessica Nguyen.
Rockland: Delia Jasper.
Scituate: Nora Anderson, Jacqueline Cingel, Zoe D'Onofrio, Elizabeth Dillon, Lea Hofmeister, Meredith Hokanson, Sophie Jennings, Ella MacGrath, Tamsin Nicholson, Ava O'Donoghue, Margaret Pease, Lindsay Wilson.
Walpole: Reilly Walsh.
Westwood: Avery Engel.
Weymouth: Madison Bender, Aisling McLaughlin, Maggie Murphy.
Whitman: Nicollette Heath.
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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Notre Dame Academy graduated 83 students in its Class of 2023.
