22 Graduate from Donahue Academy

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Published on Friday, 06 June 2014 17:16

Twenty-two seniors -- the largest graduating class in the seven-year history of the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy in Ave Maria -- received diplomas Friday at a ceremony at the Ave Maria oratory.

"Let our lives be filled with purpose, excitement and meaning," Valedictorian Max Towey (below left)  told his classmates. "We were made for greatness. Now we must go forth from this ceremony and seek it."

He began his talk by thanking two major figures at the school for whom the graduation ceremony also marks a turning point – Headmaster Dan Guernsey, who is moving to Ave Maria University as chair of its education department, and popular teacher Sr. Teresa Benedicta, who has been reassigned by her order and will teach in California. Mr. Towey praised Sr. Teresa Benedicta, who has taught at the school for five years, as "a wonderful teacher and example to people at the school and in the community."

Many of the graduates won't be far from home in the fall as about two-thirds of them will be attending Ave Maria University.

The Class salutatorian, Michela Cheffers, was also named a "graduate of distinction.

Following is a list of the 2014 Donahue graduates

Monica Beane
Mary Buzzanca (Summa Cum Laude)
Marissa Carletta (Magna Cum Laude)
Santiago Chaparro (Cum Laude)
Michaela Cheffers (Summa Cum Laude, Salutatorian, Rosa Mystica Award for art)
Joseph DeLiso
James Grace (Cum Laude)
Ann Guernsey (Summa Cum Laude)
Lane Lawe
Nicole Ledesma
John Longley
Albert Mathieu
Anne Nissen
Louis Raiger
Jennifer Rivera (Summa Cum Laude)
Daniel Scanlan (Magna Cum Laude)
Luke Scheck
Cale Schneider
Maximilian Towey (Summa Cum Laude, Valedictorian)
Joseph Traver (Magna Cum Laude, Magnificat Award for Virture)
Victoria Velasquez (Cum Laude)
Marco Vega

 (photos by Mary Stuller)