Alliance for Catholic Education
“So raise up your glass, here’s to brand new beginnings
And don’t shed a tear for the things that are ending
Cuz tomorrow will bring us a new morning sun
My friends, I believe that the best is yet to come.”
Ben Rector, “The Best is Yet to Come”
While I did in fact shed (many) tears on ACE graduation weekend, most notably hugging goodbye to two of my dear fellow graduates whom I met on an ACE zoom webinar senior year of college, who are both embarking on beautiful journeys serving our loving God through vocations to religious life, the overwhelming emotions ACE 29 experienced throughout commencement weekend were joy, gratitude, and hope.
Starting the Tuesday before graduation weekend, all members of ACE 29 were invited to go on Commencement Retreat. Returning to the lovely Michigan retreat center where the second ACE summer had begun one year ago was truly a full circle moment. These blessed days together gave us the chance to reflect “on the road to Emmaus,” as we heard in Fr. Lou’s tear-provoking (or was that just me?) homily on Wednesday night. He encouraged us not to be afraid to, as the disciples had, remember - the triumphant joys, and also the challenging, heartbreaking moments and acknowledging how Jesus has been right alongside us at every step. Together, we remembered and rejoiced– around campfire s’mores, in the waves of Lake Michigan, and over intense games of spikeball.
Joyful reunions with family and the rest of the ACE cohort continued at Grotto Mass on Thursday after returning from retreat. Grateful tears tugged at the corners of my eyes as I sat sandwiched between several of my dearest friends in ACE, including my ACE 30 community member, and another ACE 29 graduate whom I am blessed to be embarking alongside to Latin America through the ACE in Chile program.
Surrounded by immediate and extended family members who flew up and down the East Coast to be present for this precious celebration, I found myself giving God thanks over and over for the gift it is to belong to the ACE and Notre Dame family. As ACE faculty member Chrissy Trinter so aptly described, I could not imagine being part of a more Christ-centered, gifted, and generous community.
On Friday night, after mass overlooking the Notre Dame Stadium, unknowingly echoing Fr. Lou’s earlier homily, ACE 29 Commencement Speaker and my dear friend Stephen Kurt offered a beautiful talk that invited us to reflect on how Jesus has been with us through the times our expectations were met - exceeded - and not met, through hilarious, insightful stories and inside jokes that reminded us all in ACE 29 what a gift it has been to be part of this special group. Meeting community members’ families, reminiscing over shared memories, and responding to “so what’s next for you after ACE?” abounded, with peace, joy, and hope.
ACE graduation day was the most beautiful culmination of two years of shared accomplishments, celebration, and challenges overcome, walking together with Jesus and one another all along the way. Family and friends from across the country gathered in DeBartolo Performing Arts Center to celebrate the ACE Teaching Fellows and Remick graduates. The invocation opening prayer began with a nod to the ACE Morning Offering, “Loving God, thank you for the gift of this day. Thank You for calling us in, for sending us out, and for inviting us back together here today to celebrate.” Each graduate was called by name - as Jesus did first – across the stage to receive our diplomas. After hearing inspiring remarks from our ACE Commencement Speaker Anthony Holter, we turned our tassels and were officially recognized as graduates from the University of Notre Dame. Joyful pictures with family and friends followed, (“please make sure you get the golden dome in it!”), basking in the peaceful glow of the accomplishment, before Mass in the Basilica offered by the president of the University. The celebration then paraded over to the Downes Ballroom, past the precious posters each community’s first year teachers make to celebrate the graduates and reminisce on the memories made in the past year, before a delicious buffet dinner. All three cohorts – graduates in ACE 29, ACE 30, and the newly minted ACE 31— later joined to dance the night away with more joyful reunions of friends, family, and the next generation of ACErs carrying the legacy forward.
The best part? As the name of the weekend itself suggests, this is merely the commencement – the beginning – of our journeys as educators, leaders, and disciples who make disciples. I have continued to rejoice in gratitude for the gifts that ACE has brought into my life – the friends, professors, pastoral staff, and students – who have truly become family and without whom I could now barely imagine my life. As I prepare to embark on a new journey of my own, alongside three of my fellow ACE 29 graduates, serve the community as English teachers at Saint George’s College in Santiago, Chile, I know I have just begun this journey of seeing where ACE takes me and this amazing cohort of ACE 29 graduates.
Wherever God may call us, may we all continue to make God known, loved, and served, and continue to savor the gift of belonging to the ACE and Notre Dame family for many years to come.