PCHS Celebrates the Class of 2018 Commencement

NEW LENOX (May 24, 2018) – Providence Catholic High School celebrated the Class of 2018 graduation on May 23 at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet. Each of the 240 members of the class crossed the Rialto Theatre stage to receive their PCHS diploma, marking the completion of four successful and memorable years.

During the ceremony, Valedictorian Megan Kulpinski (Tinley Park) and Salutatorian Mike Hu (Frankfort) each addressed their classmates with powerful words of encouragement and expressed their gratefulness to family, friends and Providence faculty and staff.

During the special awards portion of the graduation ceremony, Athletic Director, Doug Ternik ’89 announced Dominick Ambrose of (Tinley Park) as the recipient of the Senior Athletic-Spirit Award and Megan Kulpinski of (Tinley Park) as the recipient of the Jaime Garcia Scholastic Athlete Award.

Fr. John Merkelis, O.S.A. named Olivia Alfirevich (Lemont) and Joe Nugent (Manhattan) as the recipients of the Bishop Blanchette Religion Award. Furthermore, Claire Barrett (Tinley Park) and Joey Markasovic (Frankfort) received the prestigious Bishop Roger Kaffer Leadership Award.

“The class of 2018 will carry with them the core Augustinian values of truth, unity, and love,” says, Dr. John Harper. “There is no doubt that they will all find great success as they continue their academic careers.”

One-hundred percent of the Class of 2018 will continue their education at a college or university. Scholarships valued at nearly $40 million were offered to this class. Fifty-one of these graduates were named Illinois State Scholars. These seniors volunteered in excess of 100,000 hours of community service during their high school careers. Fourteen percent of student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent or made commitments to continue their respective sports at the collegiate level. In addition, this class witnessed many athletic accomplishments, including four state championship trophies earned by the Celtic baseball teams (2014, 2015, 2016) and football team (2014). Providence Catholic now has 30 state championship titles; the most among private high schools in the state of Illinois.

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Kathleen E. Kennedy
Director of Communications