History teacher Marie Curry began her graduation address with a call from God. Addressing the students, faculty and parents gathered for the graduation of St. Peter’s Preparatory High School’s 125th senior class Wednesday night, Curry was interrupted by a cell phone call.
"Sorry about the interruption, but its God on the phone," she told the graduating class that had assembled at St. Peter’s College on JFK Boulevard for the event. Curry went on to have brief talk with her caller and said she would pass along His message to the students.
"What I was trying to say with my speech," Curry said later, "was that the students had a call to action from God." Curry explained that she had set up the call in order to kick off her speech.
Curry has been teaching at St. Peter’s Prep since 1990, but has been a teacher since 1983. She feels this year’s graduating class is special not only for the 125th anniversary, but because of the challenges the students and their contemporaries will face.
"There is a great deal of polarization between rich and poor in our society," Curry stated after the graduation ceremony. "It is the mission of this graduating class to find a way around that polarization."
St. Peter’s Prep, located at 144 Grand St. in the Paulus Hook section, is a Catholic Preparatory School run by the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. The school was founded in 1872 and serves as a boy’s prep school for grades nine through 12.
"Approaching the 125th graduation, I couldn’t help but think of our first in 1878," said John Raslowsky, St. Peter’s Prep’s principal. "The class was small, about a dozen, and the ceremony took place at Grand and Warren. I imagine it was like ours in many ways. The students were also moving on to new challenges in life."
Raslowsky alluded to the school’s founder, Father George Kenny, S.J. and how he felt a kinship to the Jesuit priest.
"We [Raslowsky and Kenny] have each played our part, each made our contribution," added Raslowsky. "We have done so building on the great history of St. Peter’s Prep, while also laying a foundation on which others will build in the future."
Among the new challenges that the class of 2003 are faced with, according to Curry, is dealing with changes in both America and in the larger world after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"The defining moment for this generation is 9/11 terrorist attacks," Curry said. "How they will respond to it will be what makes this graduation class and its generation."
Domestically, Curry sees that the graduating class of 2003 will have to deal with the economic troubles our country currently faces, along with the growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor.
"This generation is at an economic crossroads," Curry added. "They will have to deal with this problem."
Speaking for his graduation class was Eric Anderson, a senior whom Raslowsky described as great role model during his time at St. Peter’s Prep.
Anderson reaffirmed the positive momentum of his fellow students.
"We do have a number of challenges before us," Anderson said. "I believe we have to go forward, and St. Peter’s will be a large part of that movement."
Anderson praised the education he received in the four years he commuted from Carlstadt to downtown Jersey City.
"I was taught well in this time, and I developed a good sense of how things should be," Anderson stated. "At St. Peter’s I learned more just walking down the hall than I could have at any other school."
Anderson said he had no stage fright when he delivered his graduation speech. A veteran of a number of stage productions at St. Peter’s, Anderson said staring in "Return to Forbidden Planet" and other musicals gave him the confidence to speak in front of his peers, teachers and parents.
"I do a lot of learning through experience," said Anderson. "Speaking in public comes naturally to me."
Commenting on his own graduation class, Anderson said the group of approximately 940 boys had exceeded the expectations others had placed before them.
"Not just in sports," Anderson said, "[but] we also did very well in academics this year. I think we started off having people not sure of what we were going to be."
When asked what he meant by that, Anderson only stated, "The graduation class turned out to be a pretty interesting group of people."
Curry felt the 2003 graduating class had fulfilled St. Peter’s Prep’s mission to produce young men of education and competence.
"They are a very intelligent class," stated Curry. "More importantly, they have shown they have learned compassion."