Blessed Sacrament Huguenot’s graduation exercises were held Sunday, June 1 at St. Edward’s Catholic Church on Huguenot Road.

Twenty eight students comprised the class of 2008. Thirteen of those students graduated with honors and two members of the class were international students.

“Your hopes and dreams and aspirations for the future are directly tied to what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Content of Character,” said Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell, who gave the commencement address Sunday.

This is a “world of contrast that you walk into,” said McDonnell. “Do you have the sense of service that you will need to make this world a better place?”

Colin Benusa delivered the salutatory address, reminding everyone that “everyday simple incidences” make a place home. He spoke of the comfort and security of routine and of the power of student-teacher relationships.

It was a day of “joy and celebration” said Deacon Ed Schmidt.

McDonnell is himself a Catholic school product, a 1972 graduate of Bishop Ireton in Alexandria. The Attorney General used Sunday evening to talk to the students about duty and responsibility.

“We need to look back at what our Founding Fathers had to say,” said McDonnell. “Their words are our owner’s manual.”

He went on to quote Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

“Act honestly and benevolently,” McDonnell summarized. “Washington spoke of the goals of order and right… Basically the Golden Rule, service to others above self.”

In a world riddled with scandal and controversy, he told the students, maxims of decency and kindness often fall under the crush of greed and dishonesty.

“America is great because America is good” said McDonnell. We will cease “to be great if we are not good”.

The Attorney General concluded the address with words lifted from conversations with his own children.

“Life is 10 percent aptitude, 90 percent attitude.”

The 2008 graduating class of Blessed Sacrament Huguenot also celebrated the Senior Triduum, the group’s spiritual send off, with the Baccalaureate Mass held Sunday, June 1 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Powhatan. Father Jeff Garcia, parish priest, presided at the Mass.

Prior to the opening processional, the St. John Neumann choir under the direction of Sharon Bischoff presented four choral pieces. The celebration began with Blessed Sacrament Huguenot administrators, board members, faculty, Junior Marshals, and graduates in full academic dress processing to Handel’s Largo.  Brandon Weaver, BSH ‘03, and Nathan Smith, BSH ‘09, read the scriptures during the Mass, and several of the graduating seniors participated in reading the petitions for the Prayers of the Faithful.

During his homily, Father Jeff challenged the graduates to not only have faith but to act on their faith. He reminded them that faith and good works go hand in hand.

Following the Mass, Mr. James Fortune, president of BSH, recognized the academic success of the Junior Marshals, Jordan Hall, Russell Leboff, Taylor Myers, and Joseph Pfab, and the Sophomore Ushers, Lauren Birriel, Olivia Bowles, Ashley Chaney, Chris Howard, and Katelyn Leboff, as Dr. Jack Talmadge, principal, presented each with a medal.