St. Patrick Academy 2019 Graduation

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PROVIDENCE — The 20 high school seniors who graduated from St. Patrick Academy on June 8 will all be going on to college, underscoring the vital life-changing importance of St. Patrick Church’s commitment to education.

“It is no small measure of pride that we point to these 20 seniors, all of whom are not only graduating high school today but are planning to go on to college this fall,” St. Patrick Academy principal Bruce Daigle said during the graduation, which was held in St. Patrick Church.

Serving as the graduation speaker, Patricia Ryan Recupero, the senior vice president for Education and Training at Care New England Health System Inc., who is also a member of the board at St. Patrick Academy, held up a smartphone and talked about the various apps it can have.

“Just as we install apps on our phone, we also install apps on our souls and in our spirits,” said Recupero, who told the graduates that the most important app they received during their time at St. Patrick Academy were not those that helped them with their trigonometry or chemistry homework, but that helped them to grow as a person.

“The idea that Jesus’ love imbues all your life and that you can bring the dominion of God to earth more quickly by your actions is something you can learn from and grow in every single day if you pay attention to Him,” Recupero said.

The class valedictorian, Shakira S. DaGraca, said St. Patrick Academy was the first school that taught her to think for herself. Angela A.G. Gonzalez, the class salutatorian, joked about the school being “covered in cameras,” and that everyone there “starts to grow on you, even the teachers.” She already seemed to miss her classmates.

“It’s time to turn to one another, with a tear or with a smile, and say our sincere goodbyes,” Gonzalez said. “High school is over, our time has run out and we might not know where to go next, but it’s up to us to find that in us.”