St. John's Prep graduates 268
May 22—DANVERS — St. John's Prep High School bestowed diplomas on 268 seniors during an outdoor ceremony on the school's campus Saturday morning.
It was the private Catholic boys' school's 112th commencement exercises, presided over by Headmaster Edward Hardiman. The school said that more than 3,100 friends, relatives, parents, faculty, staff, fellow students, and alumni filled the large canopy tent decorating Ryken Field.
St. John's Prep notes that the Class of 2022 is the first in school history to feature graduates who first began their studies at the Prep in Grade 6. This was also the first in three years that graduation exercises were not postponed or scaled down and socially-distanced due to the pandemic.
St. John's Valedictorian was Charles Kirby, of Marblehead, who is headed to Duke University, and the Salutatorian was Gar Rudnyai, of Topsfield, who will also attend Duke University. The senior class speaker was Marc Gaudin, of Boxford, who will attend Boston College. Conor Beswick, of Andover, received the Xaverian Award, the highest honor the school can bestow upon a graduating senior, presented to the class member who best epitomizes the values and tradition of Xaverian education. Beswick will study at St. Anselm College this fall.
The 2022 commencement keynote speaker, selected by students, was math teacher Evan Korol, of Everett.
This year's seniors represented 52 cities and towns across Massachusetts, five class members were international students, 21 seniors all hailed from Marblehead, and another 21 commuted from out of state.
Just over half of the graduating seniors are members of the National Honor Society, while 14 were National Merit Scholar (NMS) Commended students and two — North Andover's Ansh Motiani and Andover's Colby Crews — were NMS Finalists. There were 32 legacy graduates, meaning their father, grandfather or great-grandfather also graduated from the Prep. and 45 Eagles student-athletes signed national letters of intent to continue their sports careers in college, according to the school.
The top five percent of the senior class in academic performance (excluding valedictorian and salutatorian) were: Colby Crews, Theodore Cullinane, Trevor Fecko, Owen Gandt, Joseph Giardella, Declan Golden, Tim Haarmann, Nam Ho, Declan Kelly, Rocco Masciarelli, Liam Melvin, Ansh Motiani, Zachary Nassar, Robert Shea, and Chengru Zou.
