Pacelli awards diplomas

Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 8, 2000

There were 22 diplomas handed out at Pacelli High School’s graduation Wednesday night, but only 21 graduating seniors were there to accept their diplomas.

Thursday, June 08, 2000

There were 22 diplomas handed out at Pacelli High School’s graduation Wednesday night, but only 21 graduating seniors were there to accept their diplomas.

Email newsletter signup

Amy Ludvigsen, who would have been the valedictorian for the class of 2000, was missing. She died in a car accident not long after the school year began.

As they went forward to accept their diplomas, each senior placed a green and white carnation in a vase at the front of the chapel in St. Edward’s Church. Near the vase a photograph of Ludvigsen looked out over candles, rocks and greenery.

When there were 21 flowers in the vase, and all that remained was to bless and present the new graduates to the people gathered in the church, new graduate Tammy May gathered the blooms and presented them to the Ludvigsen family.

"We’ll never forget her," she told them. "We’ll treasure the part she left in each of our hearts."

"A person doesn’t have to live a long time to affect the world," John Judd, her friend and valedictorian in her place, said of Ludvigsen.

Becky Ludvigsen, a sophomore at Pacelli, accepted her sister Amy’s diploma on behalf of the family.

The metaphor of storms that speaker Father Tim Biren used in his speech to the students was appropriate.

"You have experienced your share of storms," Biren said. "Throughout our lives come tragedies that can help us grow or destroy us with hatred and bitterness. … I hope you have learned from your storms and can move on, better prepared, to face a new season of storms. That new season begins tonight."