Class of 2020 - Christian, Grayson & Matthew Stewart

When you can call your school your home away from home and your teachers and classmates your extended family, you know you have been lucky enough to have been a part of something special.
In our case, that special place is St. Mary School. Our roots run deep with our grandma, Sandy Donnelly, having been a teacher there in the 80s and 90s, during the time our mom and two uncles also attended as students.
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We graduated during the 19-20 school year from SMS, a time when COVID prevented us from being in school. Those weeks were some of the hardest times because there were many things we had looked forward to that we were not able to do. It was difficult to focus during online learning as it was easy to get distracted at home but our teachers at St. Mary were always there for us, even if it was outside of school hours. We could email any time and they would always respond and answer our questions. They helped us get through confirmation and graduation. They truly helped us get to where we are now.

Despite COVID, we still had some of our favorite memories during 8th grade, including winning the conference basketball championship and getting to help out our kindergarten buddies during their PE class and all-school masses. While we never got to go on our Washington DC trip, we really enjoyed bonding with our classmates at Loredo Taft, Springfield, and our band concert in Chicago.

Speaking of mass, St. Mary’s has shaped our faith in ways we will forever be grateful for. We altar-served through 8th grade both there and at the St. Mary’s parish with the yearly Christmas mass and serving with the Bishop for confirmation for the 8th-grade class ahead of us as our biggest highlights. This gave us a good foundation to grow in our faith and since then we have expanded upon what they provided for us.

This year, we are Juniors at Marmion Academy in Aurora, a school that has continued to support our faith journey. A critical part of our education is volunteering and service - to serve others as Christ did. Since high school, we come back each summer and during holiday breaks to give back to St. Mary’s. We love visiting our old school and seeing our former teachers. They are always happy to see us and we have a lot of fun talking with them about what we are up to now. Over the years we have collectively volunteered over 100 hours there doing projects behind the scenes that you might not always notice. We have painted, pulled weeds, moved furniture, dug holes, and tore up flooring, to name a few things. It feels good to give back.

As we start the college search process, we are confident that both St. Mary School and Marmion Academy have prepared us to achieve our goals and dreams. They will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Go Lancers!

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