Celebrating the 13 seniors who made it through four tumultuous years of high school

On August 2, in front of a small gathering of cherished friends and family, Grace Emmanuel School’s senior class graduated.

The Class of 2024, comprised of 10 women and 3 men, began their high school career during a pandemic, followed by a presidential assassination.

The gang violence that persisted through each of their high school years caused them to lose months of classroom instruction and school days.

As juniors, they fled from school under gunfire during the massacre in Source Matelas on the morning of April 19, 2023.

Their families were forcibly displaced from their homes.

And yet, thanks to the faithfulness of God, they persevered to complete their high school education at a borrowed school location in a new city while living in temporary housing.

A special group of kids

“This class was not interested in making trouble,” shared Andris, the director of Grace Emmanuel School. “They listened and obeyed.”

Because of the chaotic nature of their senior year, the school hired an extra teacher to work with them to make up for lost school days and also paid teachers to come in on Saturdays for extra class time.

“Despite the situation not making it easy, we arrived at success this year,” he said, “and we have hope for a good result on the state exams.”

The Class of 2024 fittingly chose the word “Apogée,” meaning pinnacle or climax, for their class name. Their high school graduation came after four years that were an uphill fight the whole way.

As these 13 young adults now embark on this next chapter in their lives, another battle awaits them. As their class president, Loudenie, said in her commencement address, “we are on the verge of winning this fight, but we still have the battle to win. This battle is the school of life. It is no use winning the fight of school just to lose the battle of life.”

Loudenie urged her classmates to fight the system that impedes the progress of youth in Haiti and to flee from the drugs that have stolen the future of so many in her country. She pleaded with her classmates to stay united and to “fight for a radical change in the Haitian mentality.”

Watch highlights from graduation

The graduation ceremony lasted over 3 hours and was filled with songs, special performances, dances, speeches and more.

In a normal year, graduation is attended by hundreds of family members, friends, community members, and students. This year, each graduate had only a handful of guests in attendance because of the heightened insecurity in the area.

We have condensed the highlights into a 15-minute video that we are excited to share with you. Thank you for continuing to support this ministry and making this climactic day possible for these students! Pray that as these students embark on this next chapter in their “battle of life,” they would lean on the solid foundation in Christ they received at Grace Emmanuel School.

Congratulations, Class of 2024! God is faithful. May you shine His light in Haiti for the world to see.