The Academy of Holy Angels Class of 2024 will have its commencement ceremony this weekend.
The ceremony is 4 p.m. Sunday, June 2, at 6600 Nicollet Ave., Richfield. The ceremony is planned for the school’s front lawn, as is the longstanding tradition for the Catholic high school. In the event of rain, the ceremony will take place in the gymnasium.
Several Holy Angels students were asked to share memories and experiences from their high school years. The participating students are Alaina DeCrans, Olivia Maloney, Yesenia Nava Ramirez and Derek Stock.
What was your favorite high school experience/memory?
DeCrans: My favorite high school memories are traveling to Duluth every summer with my tennis team. The weekend after tryouts, the varsity team would pack up in a mini bus driven by Coach Werle and drive up to Duluth. The trip was less about the scrimmages and more about the bond we formed while on a trip together. We would spend an evening wandering around Canal Park, then would stay up late in the hotel rooms playing games and watching movies. I always felt much closer to my teammates after the trips, and the rest of the tennis season was always a blast.
Maloney: During my high school years, my most memorable experience has been participating in the school community overall. I thoroughly enjoy attending sporting events and cheering with some of my best friends in the stands. I also love spending time with the friends that I have made through school because they are some of my favorite people. I also am in multiple clubs at school such as the school newspaper and National Honor Society. These clubs have allowed me to explore my interests and meet new people. My schedule with advanced academic courses, work and many hours of dance can be very rigorous, but I would not want it any other way.
Ramirez: I think that the most impactful experience I’ve had at Holy Angels would be joining the Diversity Club. I joined my freshman year and over the years I’ve made new friends and we have brought more fun and diversity to the school. We celebrated milestones in diversity in the United States such as Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. My favorite memory so far was Culture Fest, where we dressed up in cultural wear and brought in ethnic dishes. As a Mexican, I wore a huipil and brought in Jamaica, a hibiscus tea.
Stock: My favorite high school experience has to be my time doing knowledge bowl. I did knowledge bowl all four years of high school, and it was my only real extracurricular activity. Knowledge bowl was how I met my first friends my freshman year, and those friendships extended to many others at Holy Angels. It was what made an otherwise sub-par freshman year a little more fun and tolerable. As a few years passed, I developed my team with my friends and strategically chosen players. This year, after trying for three years prior, my team finally made it to regionals, which had been a goal of mine since the beginning. It is one of my greatest memories and accomplishments during high school.
What are your plans after graduation?
DeCrans: I will be attending the University of Denver in the fall to study criminology. I hope to eventually work in a field that allows me to reform America’s justice and prison systems. Additionally, I plan on studying abroad multiple times during the next four years, to broaden my perspectives, experience different cultures and make lasting connections with people from different areas of the world.
Maloney: After graduating from the Academy of Holy Angels, I plan on attending the College of Saint Benedict. I am unsure on what field I want to enter into, but the marketing field is appealing to me. I am ecstatic to enter into this chapter of my life and share many new experiences with the people that I meet along the way.
Ramirez: I plan to get a bachelor’s degree in sonography and plan to take the echocardiography route at St. Catherine’s University. I had always wanted to be in the medical field as a child and wanted to be a nurse. I gravitated towards sonography when my mother was pregnant with my four-year-old sister. When I met the sonographer, I learned she shared a similar name as me, and her childhood journey towards sonography had many similarities to my life. So I wanted to be a sonographer like Yessenia.
Stock: I plan to attend Marquette University in Milwaukee to study environmental sciences. I had known for a while that I had a liking for biology over other sciences, and since my dad is a middle school science teacher, his love of science rubbed off on me. I knew I wanted to study science, and I happened to land on environmental science. Humanity’s impact on the environment was and still is a concern of mine, so I decided to take the opportunity to learn more about our effect on the ecology and ecosystems of our planet and make a difference.
There have been many changes in the world during your high school years. How have they affected you?
DeCrans: The change that has affected my life the most is the pandemic. School was shut down at the end of our eighth-grade year, so we missed out on a normal graduation and entrance into high school. Freshman year was tough because we were only in school two days per week, and I only ever met people with last names A-L. I think this set back my ability to truly experience high school because we were not allowed to go to sports games or dances, and were even encouraged to not hang out with each other outside of school. Our first “normal” year of high school was probably junior year. Despite the unique high school experience we had, I am still grateful for all the people I grew to know, the things I learned and the activities I was able to participate in.
Maloney: Throughout my high school experience, there have been many changes in the world, but the one that impacted me the most was the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning virtually was very strenuous for me, and it was difficult to transition from middle school to high school online. The pandemic also affected my dance life as well. I was not able to competitively perform the dances that my team and I had spent hours learning. We all had to do virtual dance classes from home which was far from ideal, but we all did our best to make it work. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend in-person school and dance since the pandemic and to be able to continue doing what I love.
Ramirez: When I first began Holy Angels, I was a devout Catholic who had a very narrow view of the world. I never had an opinion that didn’t tie back to church belief/doctrine. When the pandemic began, I lost touch with my church, and everyone my age relied on the internet for news. Gaining access to the internet opened my eyes to the truth surrounding our society: abortion, homelessness and current tragedies in the Middle East. My personal opinions began to champion my religious beliefs and although I still am a Catholic, I don’t let it change my views of the injustice in the world. Especially with news now about the genocide in Gaza, I have lost faith in our current political leaders and I can only hope that our growing generation will create active change in the world.
Stock: It’s obvious that the pandemic had an effect on me and my peers. After all, we’re the class that entered high school when you couldn’t even see someone’s face. The pandemic made it really difficult to get to know people, and for freshmen, that’s crucial. It was difficult for me to make new friends, especially since I had left so many from middle school. I’m glad to have so many good friends now, but it’s still an odd feeling to be leaving them after only truly knowing them for only really a little more than two years.
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