Graduation 2026

My name is Ruth Roberts. I am very excited and honored to give the student speech this year, and just share my gratitude for my classmates and Martin Saints. 

Now, class, think back and remember our first ever camping trip in September 2022. I remember white water rafting. I remember flashing my headlamp at the big black bear lured into Duncan’s trap by donuts and molasses. I remember Delaney teaching me how to play poker and playing for hours on end. It was a rainy camping trip, so we couldn’t do all of our normal outdoor activities. Instead, we often stayed inside and bonded.  

I think, starting with that camping trip, our class just really hit it off. Thank you classmates. I can honestly say that we are really close; we share our sorrows and joys, our struggles and triumphs. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for these past four years. Thank you for putting up with me! You have taught me so much, helped me be more confident, and inspired me to grow in my relationship with God. As I was homeschooled for seven years before Martin Saints, I could never have imagined such an amazing group of peers to study with. You are all so wonderful, intelligent, funny and kind. I love you all dearly, and will miss you so much! Thank you even for these last two weeks of classes. It was so inspiring and moving to finish our history book, finish The Brothers Karamozov, finish Orthodoxy, and have Chick Fil A together in music class. I am so excited for everyone next year and in the many years to come. God bless you in Belgium, California, North Dakota, Michigan, Washington, and Pennsylvania. 

Next, thank you to the teachers. What can I say? Thank you for your wisdom, patience, and joy. Thank you for listening and answering our many questions. Thank you for your personal attention and love for each one of us. Thank you for your hard work, seen and unseen. Most importantly, thank you for your Catholic witness. Your lives are inspiring examples of what it means to say yes to the Lord’s plan. You are all so radiant and your joy and faith is contagious. I will miss you so much. Thank you, thank you!

Thank you also to our families and parents. I especially love all the moms of our senior class; you are all so generous and beautiful. I always feel seen and loved when I talk with you! And I bet you are one reason our class is so great. 

Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Dickerson, and to my own parents. I know these past ten years haven’t been easy. There are so many hardships that come with starting a school. Thank you Mary Grace for being my friend as fellow founder’s daughters. Yet, even as Deacon’s daughter I know I still don’t know all the work that he does. But Martin Saints is a noble and beautiful mission and I thank you, thank you for this school and community which have changed my life. 

As a senior I’ve realized how much I appreciate the chronology and cohesion of these past four years. In four years, we reviewed over 3000 years. Through our study we cover the great leaders, battles, saints, inventions, and art of the whole of Western civilization. Studying philosophy at Martin Saints has been particularly amazing, because we literally watch the whole timeline of Western thought play out. The Martin Saints curriculum is a feast; rich and delicious, but also with a proper menu and ordered courses. We start at the beginning, go through each century and then finally in senior year we come to the present day.

This is another thing that I love about Martin Saints: we are not afraid of the present day. The upperclassmen read modern philosophers who left nearly indelible marks on society and morality; for example Descartes, Hobbes, Mill, and Nietzsche. By senior year, we understand the wounds and evils of this world. But in our Martin Saints philosophy curriculum, G.K. Chesterton and Pope Leo XIII have the final say. So on the contrary, Martin Saints is not afraid of the present day; it is eager to participate and evangelize. And this is the amazing thing about learning chronologically: you feel inspired to join in the story. You feel the momentum of all those years, all coming down to the present day. History is alive. The story of the world continues. A Martin Saints graduate understands not only the evils to confront but also the beauty to protect. 

I remember one fiber arts class discussing “what is art” with Mrs. Guertin. She talked about art as sacramental, as an outward sign of interior reality. What I specifically remember is that she said art - or more largely beauty - “draws you in.” Beauty draws you in. True beauty is not something to merely view or experience passively, it is not merely pretty or nice, it is not stagnant or shallow. No, beauty draws you in. It's almost like a fish hook, in that it pierces you, grabs you, and then reels you in. And it draws you in because there is something to be drawn to. It is a pathway to the other transcendentals of the Good and True, and ultimately it is a pathway to God.

As men and women created in the image and likeness of God (thank you Ms. Lindmeier in theology!), we have this capacity to receive beauty and then also respond to beauty.  To be moved and formed, and then to participate and create. Unlike other high schools, Martin Stains has four years of music, art, and craftsmanship classes. This is an amazing and unique gift that Martin Saints offers, but these art classes aren’t our only exposures to beauty. In every subject, in every prayer period, in every Frassati Friday, in every teacher, and in every classmate, beauty shines through. Sometimes it's splendid and radiant, like St. Peter’s Basilica on the Rome pilgrimage! Or sometimes it's a small glimmer, like the humble Holy Martyrs church building. 

One small beautiful thing I’m very grateful for at Martin Saints is our hymnals and all our hymn-singing. Every day we begin our morning by singing a hymn in homeroom, and these hymns change weekly. I have grown to deeply know and love each hymn from our school hymnal. I remember vividly one day in spring of senior year, when the seniors sang Blest Are the Pure in Heart in music class. As we sang, I paused and looked up from my hymnal, and let the music waft over me. It was such a small, but moving moment, and my heart was full as I listened to the melody, harmony, and lyrics. I saw my classmates, their heads buried in their hymnals, singing their part with sincerity and skill. Hymns are a perfect example of something at Martin Saints that is beautiful not only for the pleasing harmonies and melodies, but also because they draw us in and lead us to God. Hymns take us “further up and further in,” as C.S. Lewis wrote in The Last Battle.

I would like to highlight two subjects this year, where I experienced beauty in new ways. Firstly, calculus. Mr. Merola, thank you very much for the past year of calculus. I know I speak for every senior in that class when I say that it was truly memorable. It stretched my brain in ways I didn’t know it could be stretched! Again and again throughout this year, Mr. Merola led us, very patiently, in the discovery of just amazing theories and formulas. Each time we reached the conclusion and we stepped back to look at the chalkboard,  I felt so little in the face of such logic and perfection. Who knew that everything worked out so simply and beautifully? Who knew that the derivative of sine, when it could be an ugly and complicated function, was cosine? And yet it was and it made sense. There was beauty in that order and harmony. Thank you, Mr. Merola.

Secondly, literature. Mr. Franz, thank you for teaching us literature and history this year. I remember our first class this year, we sat down, and you looked us in the eye. You said something like, “Listen up. This education, these books, these characters, they mean nothing, nothing, unless you let them sink into your heart. Let these stories sink into your heart and bear fruit. The longest journey you will ever take is from your head to your heart.” Thank you, Mr. Franz. I think our class has truly been moved this year, especially by The Brothers Karamazov. There is something about this book, this massive and stunning story, that never fails to amaze MSC seniors. Even in freshman year when my sister Martha was a senior, I heard stories and rumors about Mr. Franz and The Brothers Karamazov. In this book we learn that despite this sinful and sorrowful world, God’s Love and Beauty permeate through. We see His Beauty in saints like Alyosha and Fr. Zosima and also in sinners like Dmitri and Grushenka. Every day God’s Beauty seeps into our world, and we must be open and ready to receive it. 

In sophomore literature we read St. Augustine’s Confessions. As part of my 10th grade literature final, I recited the section where St. Augustine writes, “Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved Thee!” Somehow Beauty is ancient and new, mysterious and simple, outside of time and yet completely present. The Lord leaves us gifts every day: divine glimmers, hints, and whispers. And Martin Saints seeks to follow every clue to its glorious end - whether that’s in Fiber Arts, hymns, calculus, or The Brothers Karamovoz.

And while this life-long journey to discover Beauty and God never ends, our time at Martin Saints does, culminating in Rome. In April, ten seniors travelled to Rome, Florence, and Assisi for ten days. Every day we were just overwhelmed by beauty: we saw paintings by Caravaggio, sculptures by Bernini, frescos by Michelangelo, the list goes on. Every day I had to pinch myself to fully focus and appreciate the beauty around us. This beauty was made, if possible, even more beautiful, by the great spiritual depth and sacred purpose of the art. When we knelt in front of the massive tabernacle in St. Peter’s by Bernini, we knew that behind the gilded bronze and lapis lazuli our Lord was actually present in the Eucharist.

The Rome pilgrimage truly was a culmination. Because while Martin Saints encourages earnest and probing questions, Martin Saints also invites you to the answer: our Catholic faith. Truly, the curriculum, the community, and the culture all lead to the Lord. Every single day we have a whole period set aside to pray, whether that's Mass, the Rosary, Theology Q&A, the list goes on.

This prayer period has helped me to stay grounded in my spiritual life. Even if I’m busy, stressed, or just in a grumpy mood, the Martin Saints prayer periods pull me out of myself and reset my mind. And this is so important because high school isn’t easy. Even at Martin Saints! School work, extracurricular activities, family life, suffering that's out of our control, interior personal journeys; it all adds up. High school is a pretty intense four years. As my parents know too well, one of my high school challenges has been figuring out when to say “no”. But through it all the Martin Saints prayer periods continue; they put everything back into an eternal perspective, they nourish and comfort. I would particularly like to thank Mrs. Cochrane, Ms. Pisano, and the senior girls for our Monday lectio divina group. Through all four years it has been so amazing to see the beauty and depth of each one of you. Thank you for your vulnerability, love, and support!

Five years ago I was confirmed. The confirmation class teachers asked our parents to write us letters for us to read during a retreat as we prepared for confirmation. I have always kept my letters. I’d like to close with a quote from my mom's letter. 

Dear Ruth,
Mum here. What should I say? If you have Jesus, you have everything. Everything you will ever need. Jesus loves you, knows you through and through and has glorious plans for your life, plans for your flourishing and through you for the flourishing of others. Give him your life, your all - for to whom else shall we go? Never stray from him, always feed on him, receive his mercy and draw on the grace of your baptism and now confirmation. Plunge into the depths of the Church and creation. Explore the glories of the Church and creation. Do not fear the evils of today. Jesus is Lord of all.