St. Paul School, at 1789 Broad Street, celebrated 100 years of graduations with a special ceremony and mass lead by Bishop of Providence Richard Henning on June 8. The eighth grade class and its teacher, Mrs. Calla Guebel, were front and center for the occasion..

“Bishop Henning came and it was a real honor because he usually does high schools,” said Principal of St. Paul School Cindy Richard. “It was a really beautiful mass. We had the mass and then held the graduation ceremony right after.”

With only 10 students, the ceremony is not the largest Cranston will see this month, but it was special to the students, their parents and the school’s administration nonetheless.

“Believe it or not 10 students is a good one,” Richard said. “There is a little bit of a dip in middle school attendance, especially for Catholic schools, especially because of competition with schools like La Salle where I was a dean for 16 years.”

Richard said she is proud of the school, though it can be hard to compete with the extracurricular activities available in larger institutions.

“But if you were at our ceremony last night you would have been moved by the connection and the spirituality and the emotion,” Richard said proudly. “Our goal is to keep our students from the minute they enter as three-year-olds to the completion of eighth grade. We are doing a lot to increase our middle school program and working to bring more technology into the building with more social and extracurricular options especially in the wake of COVID.”

Students graduating from St. Paul are Lindsey, Albelo, Andreia De Los Rios, Aiden A. Espinal, Angel Espinal, Laureen K. Gleekia, Celina Gorman, Mya Reverdes, Sophie G. Roman, Layla Rose and Jaden Sosa.  (Herald photos by Steve Popiel)