Portsmouth Abbey School’s 89th Commencement weekend began with Prize Day on Saturday, May 25, under the Holy Lawn tent. Headmaster Dan McDonough welcomed the students and their families. Spanish teacher and Manor House houseparent Caitlin Villareal ’12 presented the athletics awards followed by history teacher Allie Micheletti ’05, who presented the academic awards. History Chair Cliff Hobbins announced those students who were elected to membership in the Cum Laude Society, and Science Department Head Dr. Stephen Zins concluded the program with the presentation of the Portsmouth Abbey Character, Service and Leadership Awards. The ceremony was followed by the Headmaster’s Reception for Prize Recipients and Guests in the School Auditorium.
On Sunday, May 26, 91 graduates and their families gathered in the Abbey Church of St. Gregory the Great for a concelebrated Mass before heading into the tent. The procession was led by Music Director Jeff Kerr playing bagpipes and Dean of Residential Life Paula Walter. Commencement exercises included a welcome and benediction by Prior Administrator Fr. Michael Brunner, O.S.B., where he thanked the graduates for their perseverance throughout their rite of passage at Portsmouth Abbey. Fr. Michael quoted from President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.”
Chairman of the Board of Regents Christopher Behnke ’81 P’12 ’15 ’19 spoke to the graduates about a kinship he felt with them as he recalled the opening of the Burden Classroom Building during his Sixth-Form year, just as the Class of 2019 saw the opening of the new science building this past year. He congratulated the Class, which included his daughter Meghan. In his parting advice for the graduates, Mr. Behnke paraphrased from the Rule of St. Benedict, “‘Be gentle, lest when removing the rust we damage the vessel.’ Be gentle,” advised Mr. Behnke, “but get the job done!”
Headmaster McDonough then addressed the Class of 2019, which also included his daughter Diane. Citing our ever-changing world he noted, “One thing won’t change, and that is how you treat other people." He advised the graduates to be leaders and to take time to speak to God every day, closing with, “For now, thank you for our time together. May God bless you, and I hope you come back often.”
There were two student speakers from the Class of 2019, elected by their classmates to deliver commencement speeches: Patrick Flanigan of Tiverton, RI, and Kathleen “Katie” Marie Kelly Ritchie of New York, NY.
Patrick began with, “Why do I love the Abbey? The answer is simple. It’s the people - the students, faculty, staff and families - the people here today who make all of this possible.” He cited some of the silly pranks that he and his friends pulled over their four years, saying those “small moments – not the big ceremonies” are the memories that he will cherish throughout his life. “If you learn to value the moments that don’t have ceremonies ... the beauty is hidden in those seemingly trivial moments.” Patrick told his classmates to thank their families for the opportunity afforded by attending the Abbey, and concluded with, “Class of 2019, I love you guys!”
Katie then addressed her classmates and the Abbey community, humorously reporting that she sometimes felt her life has been composed of nothing but numbers, saying, “As our Fifth-Form selves were pitched into the daunting college process, I managed to come to the frightening conclusion that every aspect of my life boils down to a number. I began to think of myself as a series of data points.
“Even after saying all that, there is one measurement we can never escape, and that is time. Nothing is forever, so if your time here has taught you anything at all, I hope that it is to make the most of each day, each relationship, each victory, and each failure.”
In conclusion, Katie said, “With that, I want to thank everyone again for being here to support the Class of 2019. To my fellow graduating seniors, take a look at one another. It wasn’t always easy, and it wasn’t always fun, but we made it, and we’re stronger and better than ever. Every one of you sitting before me should be incredibly proud of themselves and of each other. Congratulations again!”
The guest Commencement Speaker was Dr. John Malcolm McCardell Jr., vice-chancellor and president of Tennessee-based Sewanee: The University of the South. Dr. McCardell titled his address “An Ounce of Hope,” calling the day a time of ends and beginnings. “You stand today athwart the course of what Isaac Watts’s beloved hymn refers to as ‘time’s ever rolling stream,’ which will eventually ‘bear all our souls away.’” He quoted from T. H. White’s Once and Future King: “You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies. You may lie awake listening to the disorder of your veins. You may miss your only love. You may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your own honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then – to LEARN. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fail or distrust, and never dream of forgetting,” and recalled the words of Wendell Berry: “The thing being made in a university is humanity … human beings in the fullest sense of the word – not just trained workers or knowledgeable citizens but responsible heirs and members of human culture.”
Dr. McCardell recounted the story of the recent devastating fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, and of the beekeeper, “who tended three hives of more than 180,000 bees housed about 100 feet below the Cathedral’s main roof. ‘An ounce of hope,’ reported the beekeeper. The bees had, miraculously, survived. Out of fire and destruction in that Holy Week – life. Hope.
“May you be that ounce of hope,” said Dr. McCardell, “and may you, like the ancient Greeks, make a commitment to leave the communities you will inhabit and serve not less strong but stronger, not less beautiful but lovelier, than you found them.”
Headmaster McDonough presided over the conferral of diplomas, and the Portsmouth Abbey School Schola sang “All Creatures of Our God and King” as the graduates began the recessional from the tent.
List of Prize Day Recipients 2019
List of graduates in the Class of 2019.
View the Commencement photo album.
Dr. McCardell's full Commencement Address.