Dear Mercy High School Class of 2019,

Congratulations! We actually did it. We made it through four years of laughing, crying, hugging, and fighting. In a week we will be walking across the Detroit Opera House stage for the last time as a class. Now it is time to go out into the world and make our mark. To become the people that our parents, teachers, and peers have influenced us to become. But first, I want to say thank you.

Thank you to everyone who has opened their ears when I needed to talk. To everyone who lectured me when I felt like giving up. To all the friends I have laughed with in fun classes like Acting 1 and 2, Broadcasting, Newsprint, or Honors British Literature. And to all of the people who have consoled me with the phrase, “I haven’t started yet either” in classes like Probability and Statistics, AP Chemistry, or Honors Geometry.

My hope is for all of you to go and find your passion in life, to fully embrace it, and to prosper. Our class is full of kind and brilliant minds who will one day become the doctors, engineers, politicians and Broadway stars of tomorrow. I hope I can look around in the future at all of the differences that have been made in the world and say that I went to high school with the people who made those changes.

Remember to always stay kind, be open to diversity, embrace change, and say the Suscipe every Monday morning at 8:00am. Keep the four Kairos values (Doubt, Cry, Trust, and Live) in your minds and apply them to your life. Never use any dead words in the papers you will write. Know that you will always have an army of Mercy sisters to fall back on if you ever need. Impress people with your ability to speak in a Cockney accent. Stay in touch with Mercy girls and make them become your real friends for life.

Congratulations Class of 2019. I am so proud of everything we did, the bonds that we have formed, and the obstacles we have overcome together.

Sending all of the love in the world to my sicka, sicka, senior survivor sisters,
Alyssa Johnston ‘19