Father Douglas A. Freer, diocesan vicar of Catholic education, urged the graduates to remain faithful in his homily at the Baccalaureate Mass held prior to the June 3 commencement.

“Now you step forth from here, a place where each day was grounded in prayer. Now you step forth from a place where attending a Mass was decided by your school and your parents, and now it’s going to be up to you.”

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Using the academic and spiritual lessons gleaned from the faculty and staff of Villa Victoria Academy, Father Freer also encouraged the students to do good. “I hope you realize you’re called, every one of you, to make a difference in the world,” he said, noting that they could do so by reflecting the words of Jesus.

At the commencement ceremony, held in the school theater, valedictorian Emma Knox Jacobsen, who will be continuing her studies at Boston College in the fall, acknowledged the bittersweet nature of graduation.

“Our education and, more importantly, our time spent at Villa, whether it had been from ninth grade or kindergarten, have taught us the importance of faith, dedication, self-empowerment, love and friendship,” Jacobsen said. “We have learned so much here, but the one thing I recently realized we never learned was how to say goodbye.

“When we go our separate ways I will be leaving a part of myself behind,” she added, fighting back tears as she addressed her classmates. “I couldn’t be more proud of you guys.”

Salutatorians Christina Marie Hardister and Allison Han-Yun Lee also spoke of the bond forged among the 17 graduates and fostered by the support of their families, faculty and staff.

“I’ve had the blessing of being able to share four years with these girls, four years that moved just a little too quickly,” said Hardister, who attended the academy for 13 years. “They are my best friends and my sisters and I am so proud of them and who they have become.”

Han-Yun Lee said the uniquely small graduating class was an additional grace.

“Without this school we would have never been this close-knit family we are now. We are also different and sometimes I doubt if we would have even known each other’s names in a larger school,” she said.

During the ceremony, Filippini Sister Lillian Harrington, president of the institution, conferred the diplomas. Robert Lawrence, chairperson of the board of directors gave out the awards. The learning environment provided by the academy allowed for a group of graduates who earned a combined $2.6 million in scholarships and will attend Rutgers University, the University of Miami and George Washington University among others.

Mary Dileo Lavery, a former faculty member of the academy offered students advice about how to proceed in the next stage of their lives.

“My few words urge you to adopt not the short, but the long view of something typically discussed at graduations: the journey through life. A cliché, I know, but the cliché is no less true or significant,” Lavery said “You have learned that knowledge is power. To that end, your teachers have done their best to confer in you the means to acquire both.

“All of us here today send you off with boundless love and hope, confident that you have prepared yourselves earnestly and well.”