Helias Catholic High School held a graduation ceremony Thursday for five seniors who are joining the military.
The military graduates include: Jacob Andrews, United States Army; Drew Hoelscher, United States Marine Corps; Ben Pierle, United States Marine Corps; Curtis Rockers, Missouri National Guard; and Matthew Roussin, United States Air Force.
Three of the graduates will be departing for basic training before the postponed June 19 graduation date.
The military graduates were honored on the football field. They received their diplomas from outgoing Helias president, the Rev. Stephen Jones, during the ceremony. Seniors, Helias faculty and administration and four members of each recruit's family attended the event.
New Helias President Kenya Fuemmeler said she's grateful to these students for serving our country.
"We just wanted to find a special way to honor those kids who are sacrificing so much for all of us and our country," she said. "We felt that it was really important to recognize them."
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The speaker was Mark Ordway, a Helias faculty member who has served in the Missouri National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2004.
Ordway told the students to never give up and to learn to accept and embrace challenges as the graduates move on to their next big challenge.
"You can't quit. You learn from it; educate yourself so the next time you will have a different outcome," Ordway said. "Cherish those challenges that will be placed in front of you. Take them on at full speed."
Hoelscher said he appreciates that Helias held a ceremony for him and the other military graduates since they won't be able to attend the ceremony in June.
"It's really nice," he said. "After the four years at Helias, it's kind of one of those things you expect to have, and it's nice for me to just see all my friends one last time. Since we won't be here, this is pretty nice of them to have it for us."
Pierle said he was glad this ceremony was held because he was worried about missing the graduation ceremony in June.
"I was worried about missing my graduation because every kid gets that chance to go to their own graduation," he said. "I felt a sense of pride that they were giving us this chance."