St. Mary’s High School graduates 13 seniors in Storm Lake ceremony

Thirteen St. Mary’s High School seniors crossed the stage Sunday afternoon in the school gym, leaving a small class that the school measured not by size but by the range of paths its graduates will take next. Family and friends filled the ceremony as diplomas were handed to Neely Bacon, Madeline Best, Nicolas Calvo, Aubrey Crum, Ivan Del Villar, Carissa Elsden, Juan Figueroa-Rodriguez, Isabelle Landgraf, Jesus Melendez, Dominac Mills, Stephanie Murray, Brendon Petersen and Danika Wetherell.

The graduating class was led by Carissa Elsden, who delivered the valedictorian address, and Neely Bacon, who gave the salutatorian speech and served as student body president. Bacon later transferred the school key to incoming student body president Ruby Phelps, a symbolic handoff that underscored how closely St. Mary’s ties together student leadership from one class to the next. Jessa Fetrow, a junior escort, helped Elsden from the stage during the ceremony.

Ron Demers, chief meteorologist at KTIV in Sioux City and a 1988 St. Mary’s graduate, served as featured speaker. Demers has spent more than 30 years on the air, and his career fit neatly with the school’s own record of sending graduates into communications, medicine, law, education, business, service trades, construction and food service. That range has long been part of St. Mary’s identity as a school that treats success as more than a single track after graduation.

The ceremony also highlighted the school’s history and its place in Buena Vista County. St. Mary’s Catholic School in Storm Lake traces its start to 1912, when Father Cooke began preparations to open a Catholic school in the parish. St. Mary’s High School held its first commencement activities in 1916, giving Sunday’s ceremony a direct link to more than a century of local Catholic education.

Fr. Brent Lingle, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, and Principal Kate Swanson also spoke, and Dillan Smith conferred the diplomas. Swanson presented the Spirit of St. Mary’s Award to Isabelle Landgraf, another sign that the school’s graduation marks more than completion of coursework. It reflects a tightly knit community, one that says its mission is to serve students from all faith backgrounds and send them on with a common foundation, even as their next steps diverge into college, work, the trades and beyond.