SHA Seniors Receive "Ticket to Success"

High School became history for 119 Sacred Heart Academy students as the school held its graduation ceremonies in the Philip Paolella Jr. Recreational Center.

The commencement exercises topped off a week for seniors that included a trip to Holiday Hill on Monday, the annual Honors Convocation on Tuesday, Alumnae Induction Wednesday and a Baccalaureate Liturgy Friday evening.

The excitement was palpable in the gym Saturday as the seniors said goodbye to the school.

"May 26, 2012 -- the only date we've had memorized all year -- has finally come, and we exit SHA as graduated seniors," class Salutatorian Roxanne Raiola told her classmates. "With a single "goodbye" today comes more "hellos" tomorrow than can ever be imagined; yet we have comfort in knowing that today is only a temporary goodbye from the place we have called home."

Valedictorian Christine Smith likened their high school career to a poem -- freshmen year starting with the unknown, becoming "invested in the poet's words" sophomore year, seeing the meaning junior year and finally ending senior year.

"We can see the poem is ending, and in a way, we don't want it to, because it has been so beautiful and it has touched us in so many ways," she said. "However, in a way, we are excited too. We can see all the good that the poem has brought us, and we are eager and happy to find out how it ends. We are excited to learn the poem's resolution and to move on to newer and equally beautiful poems."

Smith is a National Merit Finalist and a State of Connecticut Governor's Scholar. Her plans include studying political science next year at Princeton University.

Raiola will major in Nursing at Regis College, where she was awarded a four-year full-tuition Regis College Presidential Scholarship.

Halle Cairns, ranked third in her class, offered the Graduate Prayer during the ceremony. Next year she will attend the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY, majoring in music and music history. She is the recipient of the Presidential, St. Rose and Music Talent scholarships.

Both Allysandra Giannini, ranked fourth in the class, and fifth-ranked Jenna Buccetti spokes at the Honors Convocation held Tuesday. Giannini will attend Fairfield University in the fall, where she will study new media: film, television and radio. She is the recipient of one scholarship and two grants from the school.

Buccetti will enter Providence College in September, where she will study biology in the school's Honor's Program.

Dolores J. Ennico, a member of the SHA Class of 1970 and vice-president of Human Resources for the Olin Corporation, was the graduation speaker.

"That diploma you received is your ticket to success in the next chapter of your life," she told the graduates. 

But, she said, they are entering that chapter during one of the most challenging times in the nation's history.

"The political climate is toxic and uncertain," she said. "The world's resources are depleting at an alarming rate." And by pointing out the bad, she told the students, she is trying to "make you want to go out in the world and make it a better place.

"At SHA you have been given outstanding educational tools," she said, "and you need to apply that learning to real world problems.

"Whatever choice you make, whatever path you chose to walk, you have the power to make change," she said. 

She also urged the graduates to stay true to their character and their morals.

"You are judged by your character every day, by your words and your action and your lack of actions," she said. "Be a person who exudes integrity -- as you get further away from here, you are going to encounter those who will ask you to compromise your values. Don't.

"Allow yourself to make mistakes," she said. "Most successful people will tell you that they learn more from their mistakes than from their successes."