Last week I had the distinct honor of creating the official portrait of Fr. Justin Baker, which will hang in the Parish Hall along with the portraits of the previous Pastors of St. Mary's Church. Having celebrated the 100th anniversary of the church last September, I wonder if someone will be looking at the photo 100 years from now?

This is a follow-up to the previous post. At the graduation of the sixth grade, the sixth grade teacher, Mrs Billings gave an emotional speech to the class about believing in themselves and that they were capable of doing anything they wanted to in life. Mrs Billings is moving on to her dream job next year, so she was presented a bouquet of flowers by her son, Riker. Mrs Billings is an outstanding teacher and the school's favorite. I visited the classroom a time or two and it was easy to see why her students were learning, they were excited and anxious to learn and they were having fun doing it. Mrs Billings was God's gift to our school.

Today at the graduation Mass, Fr. Justin Baker was presented with a photo that I had designed and framed, of the school, with a collage of the classes as a going away gift. Each student signed their name on the mat. He is being transferred to a new parish on July 1st. He will be very hard to replace after five years here. I consider him a friend as well as our spiritual leader and wish him well at his new parish.

Here is another photo with their teacher, Mrs. Billings and the principal, Mrs Almquist as well as the Pastor, Fr. Justin Baker. For more information about our school, check the website, www.saintmarysvt.org

Today was the graduation of the sixth grade at my son's school, he's going into fifth grade next year. I was there in my capacity as a school board member and supporter of the school and it's students.