Friendships, Faith and Fun

Michael Gregory Russell

Thank you Dr. Wittmann and Father Pat for giving me the opportunity to speak at Sacred Heart Graduation 2006. Also thank you to all of our 7th and 8th grade teachers for their dedication and hard work in helping us through our Middle School years at Sacred Heart. When I reflect on my nine years at Sacred Heart, I think primarily of three things: great friendships, our Catholic faith and, of course, fun times with our class.

We came into Sacred Heart as young boys and girls, not knowing anyone, and now we are leaving it with life long friendships. We developed our friendships both inside and outside the classroom. Some of my favorite memories at Sacred Heart are of the many class and school trips we took together. Some of them include visiting Tillicum Village in 4th grade, spending the day at the Dungeness Spit in 5th grade, and a Washington State History Tour around Seattle in 7th grade, where I spent the day walking around Seattle with my dad, Nick Cluts, Nick Jenkins and Jordan Chapin. We learned a lot and even uncovered some “electrifying'' artifacts at the “Ye Olde Curiosity Shop”. These field trips were a lot of fun and of course educational, but if you look closely at all of these trips you realize that they helped bring us together as a class, and helped strengthen our friendships.

For example, during the Washington D.C. trip this year, we learned a lot about our nation's capital, but we also learned more about some of our close friends during all the hours on the plane and bus. What I think is so amazing about Sacred Heart is that it is able to help us develop our friendships without us really even knowing it.

Most importantly, Sacred Heart has also allowed us to develop our faith as Catholics. Starting from Peacemakers in Kindergarten to “How to be a disciple'' in 8th grade our teachers and parents have helped us become better followers of Jesus. When we would study something, our teachers would always give us examples of how it applied in our modem world. Little things like starting our day with a class prayer, to bigger things like doing a community service project or helping out at a food bank. This helped us learn how we should go about applying these lessons later in life.

Even though we were challenged to work hard and juggle lots of assignments, we always found time as a class to have fun. I have lots of great memories about fun times at Sacred Heart, from parading around the school in first and second grade dressed in our Halloween costumes, to shooting hoops at recess, to our school dances, and most recently, being team captains at Field Day.

Our time at Sacred Heart has been great. We have developed some amazing friendships and learned a lot. Sacred Heart has prepared us well for all the challenges we will face as freshmen next year and in the years to come. Congratulations to the Sacred Heart Class of 2006, and best of luck to all of us during our upcoming High School years.

Thank you.

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