Oakcrest Class of 2027 Celebrates their Annual Class Celebration and Ring Ceremony

During the ceremony, students heard words of encouragement from their Class Dean and Class President, before each junior received a rose and her ring from the Head of School—a visible sign of her belonging to the Oakcrest mission.

In a particularly meaningful address, Class Dean Mrs. Ana Rose Soley invited the Class of 2027 to reflect on the deeper significance of the evening. “The ring is a visible sign of something deeper,” she shared, describing the ceremony as a recognition of the formation already taking root in each student—their identity as Oakcrest women committed to “Virtus et Veritas,” virtue and truth.

Framing junior year as a “beautiful threshold,” Mrs. Soley encouraged students to embrace their call to become what Pope John Paul II described as “trustees of humanity.” She reflected on three key virtues emphasized during the junior year: prudence, constancy, and gratitude, illustrating each through personal stories of women who had shaped her life.

The evening also featured remarks from Class President Gigi R. ’27, who reflected on the gift of friendship and the shared experience of the class. Quoting author Wendell Berry, she began, “I was grateful because I knew, even in my fear and grief, that my life had been filled with gifts,” adding with humor, “Though I have not had much fear in my life, except maybe walking into a pre-calculus trigonometry test, and hardly any grief, except getting my trigonometry test back, this quote does make me think about my gratitude for the gift of each of you.”

Drawing a parallel between the ring and the sacraments they have come to understand at Oakcrest, Gigi described the ring as “a visible sign showing an invisible reality,” a reminder that their years at Oakcrest have been both meaningful and formative. “This ring symbolizes our belonging,” she said, pointing to the shared memories and experiences that unite the Class of 2027.

Gigi concluded by expressing gratitude for the many people who have supported the class along the way, their parents, siblings, teachers, and mentors. Finally, she closed with a quote from St. Josemaría Escrivá: “The Father never tires of hearing I love you, I love you, I love you.” She said, “I hope we never tire of saying: I love you, I love you, I love you…”

Mrs. Soley also pointed juniors to the many women present in their own lives who model virtue daily—family members at home, as well as teachers and mentors at Oakcrest. She encouraged them not only to be grateful for these examples, but to begin asking how they themselves are being called to live for others.

“The world will always need women of brilliance,” she said, “but it will never stop needing women of tenderness—women who notice, who listen, who bring humanity into every place they enter.”

As the evening concluded, the ring each student received stood as more than a symbol of their years at Oakcrest. It became a reminder of the call they carry forward: to live lives of virtue and truth, and to become women who, in both ordinary and extraordinary moments, transform the world around them.