There are only two times in our entire school year when all the students gather together. Because of our Corporate Work Study Program, ¼ of the students are out at work each and every day throughout the year except for 1) the first day of school when we hold and all-school assembly to start of the year and 2) the last day of classes when we share our Senior Send-Off & Awards Ceremony.
At the year-end assembly, seniors receive their caps and gowns in preparation for graduation and we present all the academic, work-study, and service awards for the year except for our Spirit of St. Martin de Porres Award (which is given to one Senior at graduation who best exemplifies all the values of our school). This year’s Senior Send-Off was last Friday. It is an opportunity to recognize our outgoing class before they leave our community for college and lives beyond CRSM.
It’s also a way to celebrate the best in us and remind each other about what brings us together as a community – hard work, resilience, care for others, developing our God-given talents, and collective success. When we celebrate selected individuals, we are also celebrating all of us because no one achieves success alone. Each story of success includes people who helped that person get to where they are.
In what has now become a favorite tradition of the last 12 years, I get to lead the faculty, staff, and students in a final prayer for the school year and a blessing of our seniors. For this month’s President’s Pen, I would like to share with you what we say:
Blessing for Our Seniors
Christ the King, You are always with us, even at this very moment.
You called us into being THROUGH love.
You joined us to one another IN love.
You put us in this world TO love.
You are love.
Grant each one of us the strength, compassion, and focus
To bring your message of love from this place to the next.
We find you in all those we love.
May we continue to look for you in the new people we meet.
Our lives are but a moment,
And yet, we can do so much with the short time you give us.
Make us constantly restless to bring your Kingdom to life as long as we live.
For those of us who will return next year, keep us safe and productive this summer. Keep us reading.
Keep our seniors safe and without fear as they prepare to leave us. Help them know our love goes with them and that they will always be part of our Cristo Rey St. Martin family.
Accompany them to-and-through college.
Be with them in the professional world of work.
Invite them to find You by living lives of faith, committed to justice.
You, Lord, give us purpose. You ARE our purpose.
When we love one another, You live in us and Your love is made complete in us.
Bless the Class of 2024, make them instruments of your peace.
Grant them the grit to be true disciples of Your love.
Seniors…
Go forth knowing you are capable of more you than you can imagine.
Go forth to discover and strengthen the unique gifts God has given only to you.
Go forth with the compassion and humility of St. Martin de Porres.
Go forth to be persons for others.
Go forth in the name of Cristo Rey
Go forth and set the world on fire!
Amen.