Juniors receive rings during annual ceremony

Family, friends and mentors presented members of the junior class at LSMSA with their senior rings during a ceremony held Saturday, April 29, in Magale Hall located on the campus of Northwestern State University.

“Junior Ring Ceremony is a tradition that should be held dear to your hearts because it celebrates you and your accomplishments,” said Claire Leming, senior class president of St. Francisville. “This ring is a physical reminder of how far you have come and how far you have left to go.

“We all can relate to sleepless nights and tough patches in the road, but this ring allows you to look past the rough times and appreciate the good times you have experienced and will experience in the next year.”

Tesia Albarado, a member of the LSMSA Class of 1997, shared the history and tradition of the ring.

“The story of the LSMSA ring begins with our first class, the class of 1985,” said Albarado. “Those brave students who embraced the challenge of a new school selected our school colors and our mascot, and they helped to design the school crest that incorporates those symbols and others that represent our beloved school.”

According to Albarado, it was the dream of Dr. Robert Alost, the first executive director at LSMSA, that the LSMSA ring would be as symbolic as those worn by graduates of the military academies and would be recognized worldwide as the LSMSA ring. Representatives from the Class of 1985 worked with a ring company to design just such a ring.

The LSMSA ring bears the school crest with the student’s graduation year on one side and an image of the High School Building with the Roman numeral representing the LSMSA graduation class on the other.

“I personally am part of the 13th graduating class,” said Albarado. “What really sets the ring apart from all others and makes it easily recognizable is the image of Louisiana that sits atop the stone, with the location of Natchitoches marked with an imitation diamond.

“The LSMSA Class of 2018 is the 34th graduating class to participate in the ring ceremony. Ours is a rich tradition, and we are so glad that you have chosen to be a part of it.”

Those participating in the ceremony were Layna Auzenne of Opelousas, Zachary Baham of Carville, Kiara Barclay of Bogalusa, Lily Barnett of Alexandria, Kathy Barrios of Houma, Lauren Bartels of Natchitoches, Michael Bass of Bossier City, Samantha Bishop of Denham Springs, Gabrielle Blanchard of Houma, Scott Blazer of Grand Cane, Tyler Branch of Slidell, Hannah Buras of Prairieville, Jacob Burton of Houma, Garett Byrne of Walker, Nathaniel Campbell of Prairieville, Alvaro Carvajal of Jefferson, Albert Chen of Natchitoches, Jerry Chen of New Llano, Anna Cole of Baton Rouge, Lauren Copeland of Baton Rouge, Reagan Craig of DeRidder, McKenzie Cutrer of Denham Springs, Emily Dart of Bossier City, McKenzie Davis of Ferriday, Kerry Doyle of Eros, Makayla Dupre of Jeanerette, Christian East of Lake Charles, Hayden Fanning of Haynesville, Edouard Ferrell of Natchitoches, Caitlin Foster of LaPlace, Chelsea Franklin of Crowley, Ashleigh Gaude of Bossier City, Hanyu Gong of Metairie, Molly Gonsoulin of Franklin, Olivia Gotte of Iota, Sarah Green of Houma, Sebastian Guerrero of Houma, Steven Harris of Natchitoches, Samantha Hernandez of Slidell, Julian Hunter of Lafayette, Caroline Jin of Shreveport, Ariel Johnson of Baton Rouge, Nautica Jones of St. Martinville, Shakil Karmali of Leesville, Haley Kastner of Denham Springs, Dennis Keo of Buras, Ruby Kharod of Opelousas, Jayme Kirkland of Baton Rouge, Clara Kolterman of Sterlington, Olivia LaCour of St. Amant, Bryson Landry of Franklin, Amy Liu of Alexandria, Jacob Lonon of Athens, Claire Lucas of Baton Rouge, Devon Mathews of Natchitoches, LiZhang Matuschka of Natchitoches, Sydney McCollough of Mansfield, Hailey McKie of Natchitoches, Gracie Messina of Baton Rouge, Reed Middendorf of Natchitoches, Emma Miller of Meraux, Hannah Miller of Baton Rouge, Emma Millisor of Anacoco, Grayce Mores of Harvey, Caitlyn Morrison of Gloster, Bryce Moulton of Natchitoches, Shemya Mozeke of Homer, Lyrren Mwaghore of Luling, Allyssa Neubauer of Lake Charles, Hoa Nguyen of LaPlace, Alena Noakes of Dry Prong, Jessenia Ortiz of Oberlin, Stephanie Osten of Crowley, Abby Pace of Iowa, Kevin Pan of Lafayette, Gabriella Papillion of Oberlin, Tomas Parker of Natchitoches, Alexis Parsons of Maurice, Emmanuel Perez of Monroe, Blake Phelps of Merryville, Camryn Pourciau of Baton Rouge, Adreanna Queen of Natchitoches, Lauren Rains of Zachary, Kaitlyn Randall of Vidalia, James Rawls of Baton Rouge, Milla Reddick of Grand Cane, Bennett Reynolds of Sulphur, Hannah Rice of Mandeville, Sofia Rivera of Covington, Andrey Romanov of Westwego, Charles Roppolo of Denham Springs, Marcus Shallow of Elton, Jakob Shimer of Lake Charles, Emma Shupe of Baton Rouge, Presley Simmons of Walker, Emma Simpson of Shreveport. Emilyann St Blanc of Franklin, Jake Stultz of Natchitoches, Russell Stultz of Natchitoches, Trevor Sullivan of Slidell, Mary Edna Tanksley of Lake Providence, Jaci Templet of Gonzales, Amber Triche of Houma, Nathan Ward of Anacoco, Sarah Wells of Ball, Samantha Wright of Crowley and Ariana Yelverton of Rayville.