The class of 2017 is officially on its way to bigger and better things. At their graduation, 199 students walked the stage, received their diplomas and moved their tassels to officially end their high school careers. The graduation was both a ceremony and a mass, held at St. Joseph Parish in Cottleville on May 17.

The graduation was completely sold out. Faculty had to stand in the back and an extra line of seats were placed by pews for local area priests. Father Gerber was the celebrant of the mass, accompanied by Father Povis with an excellent homily.

Due to the sold out ceremony, St. Dominic went live streaming on Facebook for the first year ever. The live stream reached over 100 viewers and had comments coming in from viewers left and right. Whether they were in O’Fallon or Arizona, everyone was able to watch their senior get the big diploma!

Seniors were not the only ones being recognized Wednesday night. Ms. Fetter received a standing ovation for her nineteen years of service to St. Dominic. Two other people who had all eyes on them were salutatorian Lauryn Torluemke who opened the ceremony with a moving speech, and valedictorian Helen Wilmes who gave the closing remarks of the ceremony. Wilmes’ speech was just the right amount of funny, meaningful and sweet: a perfect way to close the evening.

We are so proud of our Crusaders for graduating, and we wish them the best of luck next year!