Congratulations Juan Diego Catholic High School Class of 2025
DRAPER — The graduation ceremony for Juan Diego Catholic High School Class of 2025’s 157 seniors was held May 23 at the Skaggs Catholic Center in Draper.
Following a school tradition, the commencement exercises began with the graduates placing a red rose at the feet of the St. Juan Diego statue at the entrance of the school, then walking into the gymnasium to sign the graduate book.
Then, to the song “Here I Am” by John Michael Talbot, they processed into the auditorium.
Dr. Galey Colosimo, principal, welcomed the hundreds of family members and friends to the ceremony, which took place during the school’s 25th anniversary year. The invocation was offered by Nikki Ward, associated superintendent of Utah Catholic Schools.
The Class of 2025 had two salutatorians, Callie Fairbanks and Ariella Nelson.
Referring to her favorite song at Mass, “10,000 Reasons,” Fairbanks said. “I think that our time here has impacted each of us differently” but that her classmates each have many memories of their time at the school.
“Not all of the moments that defined us are some larger-than-life experiences,” she said. “Instead, we are shaped and redirected by the small moments in time,” and she asked her peers to “take your 10,000 reasons with you as we go into the next chapter of our lives. Though we are leaving Juan Diego, we can still carry with us the lessons, connections and memories.”
In her salutatorian speech, Nelson reflected on the stained-glass windows in the school chapel, saying, “I like to think that Juan Diego shapes us into unique stained-glass windows. Each interaction adds a unique piece to the mosaic and each experience adds depth and color,” adding that Juan Diego has laid out “several pieces of glass for me to shape my character.”
Every faculty member, family member, friend and peer has “added rich colors to my mosaic,” she said, and asked the Class of 2025 to look at the “glass laid out in front of you and find the colors you cherish the most. Take the lessons you learned within these walls and piece them into your stained glass windows.”
Participating in class retreats helped prepare them for the future, said Valedictorian Jenna Noelle Fang, noting that each year had a different lesson: As freshmen they built trust among each other, while “the sophomore sleepover taught us to be more authentically ourselves instead of being who everyone else thought we wanted us to be.”
At the junior retreat they focused on people they want to emulate, and as seniors they “literally sealed a part of our future in the letters” that they wrote and carried with them.
Life moved fast during their four years at the school, she said, “so my final message to the Class of 2025 is that everything can be temporary if you want it to be. Look at life as a series of stepping stones. There is so much out there and know that if you don’t like where you are now, there will always be something or someone waiting for you in the future.”
She suggested that her classmates be open to making change for themselves. “Your history is determined by your actions and your desires, so chase them while you can and cherish every success and failure. Eventually, it will be those choices that lead you to your end where you were always meant to be.”
In celebration of the school’s 25th anniversary, the Class of 2025 gave a special award to Holy Cross Sister Celine Dounies, who from the beginning has taught at the Skaggs Catholic Center, which houses Saint John the Baptist elementary and middle schools as well as Juan Diego CHS.
The Spiritius Donorum Award was presented to Sr. Celine “for her example of faith that has guided generations of students and their parents to be more committed to their relationship with God,” Colosimo said. “Her dedication to Catholic education that she has steadfastly demonstrated on our campus for 25 years is nothing short of God’s love and action.”
Next year, the Diocese of Salt Lake City will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Catholic education in Utah, Colosimo said, noting that in 1876 sisters belonging to the Congregation of the Holy Cross “came from Southbend, Indiana across the plains and took up shop and they’ve been educating us ever since. And at one time, in the ’40s and ’50s and ’60s, they were a majority of the teaching force in our schools. And they were teachers not only of our Catholic students, but they were teachers in our nursing schools. And their history just goes on.”
Juan Diego Catholic High School Class of 2025151 graduates
• 40 honors graduates
• 24 AP Capstone graduates
Valedictorian: Jenna Fang
Salutatorians: Callie Fairbanks and Ariella Nelson
School Awards
St. Juan Diego Award: Lauren Keegan and Matthew Tita
St. Thomas Aquinas Award: Lincoln Gaffney
St. Theresa of Avila Award: Callie Fairbanks and Emma Matin
St. Sebastian Award: Avie Hernandez
St. Cecilia Award: Jackson Stoltz and Denver Whaley
St. Catherine Drexel Award: Sarah Azar
St. Christoper Award: Liliana Swanson and Ariella Nelson
Amyntor Award: Antonio Archuleta
St. Joseph Award: Miles Sears
St. Francis of Assisi Award: Sienna Wood
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