Class of ’12 dresses in white

May 26, 2012

Rebecca Lee
Editor-in-Chief

The Senior Class lines up along the Belvedere while waiting to greet family and friends. The graduates held their green and white bouquets as director of schools Gordon Sharafinski offered his congratulations. REBECCA SIEGEL | The Broadview — The Senior Class lines up along the Belvedere while waiting to greet family and friends. The graduates held their green and white bouquets as director of schools Gordon Sharafinski offered his congratulations. CLAIRE FAHY | The Broadview

Forty-five seniors dressed in different-styled, tea-length white dresses are scheduled to receive their high school diplomas next Friday during Commencement as friends and family watch from both the Main Hall and the Syufy Theatre.

Each graduate usually receives six tickets for guests, depending on the class size. Guests who do not have a ticket will be accommodated to watch a broadcast of the ceremony from Syufy Theatre, according to dean Rachel Simpson.

“The Main Hall is very small and it is has a very limited number of seats for families,” Paul Pryor Lorentz, who is in charge of the broadcast, said. “If a family, for instance, isn’t able to get a ticket or lives on the other side of the country they’re still able to tune in and watch it live. They’ll be here afterwards to celebrate even if there aren’t enough seats in the Main Hall.”

The webcast will be created through Ustream, a free broadcasting platform, and will be available on The Broadview homepage (https://broadview.sacredsf.org).

“I really like the tradition of [Commencement] and being able to listen to the guest speaker and see everyone in their white dresses again,” Briana Wilvert, who plans to attend New York University, said.

Seniors wore their white dresses for the first time during the Senior Tea on May 3 and will wear them again during the Ring Ceremony, Baccalaureate Mass and Commencement on May 29, 30 and June 1 respectively.

Sister Anne Wachter, RSCJ, head of Convent of the Sacred Heart Elementary School, is the scheduled Commencement speaker.

Jordan Carter (center) hugs her friend while posing for a picture. CLAIRE FAHY | The Broadview

“Sister Wachter is a tremendously impressive female leader,” Andrea Shurley, CSH head of School, said. “She’s also been a strong advocate for girls education all of her life and she will continue to do that. With her connection to the history of our school, she has been a literal tie to the Religious of the Sacred Heart and I could not think of anyone better to address a class of graduates.”

Wachter will leave to be head of Convent of the Sacred Heart of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada. Next academic year will be the Schools of the Sacred Heart’s first without an active RSCJ on campus, according to Wachter.

“I feel a connection with the high school because I was lucky to get a Sacred Heart high school experience,” Wachter, who graduated from Duschesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Omaha, Neb. in 1980, said. “I’m happy to address the graduates. It’s an honor and a privilege.”

Commencement is scheduled for June 1 at 4 p.m.

“I’m excited to go to college and hear the Trojan marching band, do research that makes a difference and having a dead week before final exams so I will have more time to study,” Caitlin Martin, who plans to attend University of Southern California said, “but I’m going to miss Convent and its traditions, especially Congé and Prize Day.”

Brooke Thomas and Isabella Holland help hand out bouquets to fellow seniors before the tea begins. REBECCA SIEGEL | The Broadview

Sarah Hegarty and Natalie Sullivan shake hands with visitors while telling them where they are going to college next year. CLAIRE FAHY | The Broadview