My Backyard

 Graduates: 1^st row, Robert Russell, Andrew MacMurray, Xavier Glasper, Isaac Renehan, Joshua Thibault and David Arruda; and 2^nd row, Eli Rebello, Allyssa Manter, Kenneth Forcier, Desiree Gallant, Morgan Schofield, Kierstin Mello, Rachel Caron, Elizabeth DaGraca and teacher Joyce Fortune. Not shown is Christian Cifuentes. (Photo courtesy of New England Christian Academy)

          SWANSEA – Fifteen eighth-grade students at New England Christian Academy of Swansea were recently extended certificates of graduation during a formal ceremony held at the Johnson & Wales Inn in Seekonk.

          Praised by NECA teachers and administrators as “intelligent,” “incredible,” “amazing,” “hard-working” and “fun-loving,” the 15 adolescents marked the passage into a new phase of their lives with a banquet meal and awards ceremony officially marking the conclusions of their middle-school careers. Pastor Frederick Poulin, NECA’s principal, distributed diplomas to the eighth-grade graduates.

          NECA’s 8^th-grade Class of 2009 included David Arruda, Rachel Caron, Christian Cifuentes, Elizabeth DaGraca, Kenneth Forcier, Desiree Gallant, Xavier Glasper, Andrew MacMurray, Allyssa Manter, Kierstin Mello, Eli Rebello, Isaac Renehan, Robert Russell, Morgan Schofield and Joshua Thibault.

          The graduation program included brief speeches by middle-school teachers Joyce Fortune, Joyce Pratt, Matthew Gallagher and Pastor Kyle DeGagne as well as musical performances by Elizabeth DaGraca and Allyssa Manter. The graduates also participated in a brief skit predicting their progress in life during the next two decades.

School administrator Patricia Marron also spoke briefly prior to distributing to eighth-graders annual school awards in various academic and personal categories. Graduate David Arruda offered a prayer of thanks at the conclusion of the program.