Pacelli Catholic Schools will host its 2016 graduation ceremony at 7 p.m. Wednesday at St. Augustine’s Church with cake and punch to follow the ceremony in Jenning’s Hall. This years’ commencement speaker is Sister Paul Mary Rittgers who is the Director of Faith Formation for the Diocese of Winona.

Pacelli has also named its high honors awards, valedictorian, salutatorian, and Shamrock boy and girl:

•Pacelli 2016 Valedictorian: Sarah Holtz

•Daniel Bollingberg: Pacelli 2016 Salutatorian

•Pacelli 2016 High Honors Awards — High honors are awarded to those seniors that maintain a 3.5 or higher GPA their entire high school career. A 3.5 is an A- at Pacelli with its rigorous grading scale. Over 65 percent of the students in the senior class will be wearing the High Honors Medal at graduation on Wednesday: Sarah Holtz, Daniel Bollingberg, Jordan Cotter, Braden Kocer, Jacob Kramer, Hannah Nelson, Peter Wang, Bennett Kraemer.

•Shamrock Boy and Girl: Bennett Kraemer and Sarah Holtz — Shamrock Boy and Shamrock Girl is an honor given to one boy and one girl in each graduating class. This honor is about as old as the school (100 years). Teachers and administration are asked to select the students who best exemplifies faith, scholarship, and service from the graduating class.

•Shamrock Boy: Bennett Kraemer — Bennett Kraemer is the son of Jerry and Meghan Kraemer. He has attended Pacelli his entire educational career, and has found great success in academics, cross country, track and field, drama, and in his witness of Christ to his peers. There is not one Pacelli event that Bennett does not show up to volunteer at, and he is an encouraging role model for younger students. Bennett will be studying philosophy at St. Mary’s University in the fall. He recently gave the following advice to the students at Pacelli: “Don’t take yourself too seriously, learn to laugh at your mistakes. Also, don’t be too quick to judge others; there’s a lot more to people than what you can see on the surface.”

•Valedictorian & Shamrock Girl: Sarah Holtz — Sarah Holtz is the daughter of Drs. Scott and Carol Holtz. She has attended Pacelli her entire educational career and has had numerous academic and extra curricular accomplishments. Not only has she maintained a 4.0 GPA her entire high school career, but she has found success in athletics as well. Sarah has been captain and an integral part of the LP volleyball, basketball, and track and field teams. She has had multiple state tournament appearances in basketball and track and field, and was even a candidate for Minnesota’s Ms. Basketball early this spring. Sarah will compete in the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet in the high jump competition on Friday. Sarah has also has been active in choir, drama, National Honor Society, and Student Council. When she has down time, you can find her in our elementary building volunteering her time to help younger students with their academics. Sarah will attend Luther College in the fall and will pursue an education degree. Recently, she gave the following advice to the students at Pacelli: “Look at the big picture. Put your problems into perspective and JUST DO IT!”

•Salutatorian: Daniel Bollingberg — Daniel Bollingberg is the son of Rolf and Dr. Faye Bollingberg. Daniel has attended Pacelli his entire educational career and has had numerous academic and extra curricular accomplishments. Daniel has maintained excellent grades his entire high school career, and has also found success in athletics. Daniel was a captain and integral part of the LP Football Team, the Austin Boys Hockey Team, and the LP Baseball Team. Daniel has been named to a number of All-Conference teams and will be playing in the Let’s Play Ball Minnesota All-Star Series. He has also been active in National Honor Society, choir, piano, and drama. Daniel is an excellent role model for younger students and his faith-filled drive gives all the glory to God. Daniel will attend The University of St. Thomas this fall, majoring in Biology and playing for the St. Thomas Baseball Team. Recently, Daniel told the students of Pacelli, “Get involved and do everything to the best of your ability. God gave each of us special talents and at Pacelli you have the opportunity to participate and use every single one of them!”