Seeing them reminded her of her imminent departure from the school where she spent the last four years.

“It was such a weird feeling,” Workman said. “I felt this weird disconnection from them for the first time.”

Saint John’s celebrated 68 graduates on Thursday afternoon in a ceremony on its campus.

The previous day, the school’s class of 1973 gathered on the same campus for a 50-year reunion, Head of School Will Knotek said.

In his remarks to the class of 2023, Knotek spoke about the evolving role of technology in everyday life.

He said he couldn’t predict what the world would look like in 50 years, but some things are bound to remain constant.

“It will always be important to lead by example,” Knotek said.

Knotek said he was glad smartphones and video-calling would make it easy for the graduates to keep in touch with one another and their teachers as they spread out across the world.

“Until we meet again,” he told them, “May God bless you all the days of your lives.”

The class valedictorian, David Chandler, encouraged his peers to strive for more than money or a high-profile career.

“Our biggest fear should not be failure,” he said. “Our biggest fear should be spending our life pursuing success in things that don’t really matter.”

Instead, Chandler said, the students should focus on following a calling and being good to those around them.

Each student will find their own path, he said.

“The place where God calls us is the place where our deepest passions and the world’s greatest hungers meet,” Chandler said.

Chandler will play baseball and study mechanical engineering in college.

His favorite Saint John’s memories include leading the student section at football games and spending time on the bus with his baseball team, he said.

Workman, meanwhile, plans to study English. Art was her favorite subject in high school, she said. Her dream is to work on an animation team for movies or television.

She said the class of 2023 was special because of the vast differences between students. Nearly all of them were close friends, she said, which felt rare for a group of that size.

“I have never seen such a unique community,” she said.

David Giandrea agreed, calling the school environment “very inviting.”

He plans to study physics in college, but said he wasn’t sure what path to take after that.

But for now, Giandrea said, celebrating commencement was enough.

“It feels pretty satisfying,” he said. “Like putting a bow on all of it.”