Wildwood Catholic Students Get Drive-by Graduation Ceremony

NORTH WILDWOOD – The tone might have been slightly different if they knew what news was coming the next day. The class of 2020 will not be Wildwood Catholic’s final graduating class after all.
A drive-by graduation ceremony took place at Wildwood Catholic High School June 3 below a circling, congratulatory banner plane and a dark cloud of uncertainty regarding the school’s future.
Many wondered if the graduating faces driving by would be the last seen in a Wildwood Catholic cap and gown.
Graduates hung out of sunroofs, side windows and Jeeps. After being recognized one-by-one outside St. Ann Church, they took two laps around the school in a police-escorted parade that ended at the boardwalk, where graduates jumped on the tram car to greet those out on an early June night.
The next day (June 4), in a letter from Bishop Dennis Sullivan, of the Archdiocese of Camden, to Father Joe Wallace, of Notre Dame de la Mer Parish, the bishop announced the school would not close at the end of the school year, as the diocese had announced in April, and, instead, would combine with Cape Trinity Catholic Elementary School – also scheduled to close – to create Wildwood Catholic Academy, a plan that the schools had in the works for years. Read related story on page (insert page number).
“We’re both off the charts excited,” said Joe Bogle, the chairman of the school’s board, sitting with Father Wallace after news became official.
“I was elated,” Wallace said.
Major fundraising efforts, led by several parents and school community members, raised over $1 million to help save the school.
 “The diocese was amazed that we did that,” Bogle said.
Bogle, who also owns the Fudge Kitchen, said one major gift came from an anonymous friend. The friend, who didn’t go to Wildwood Catholic, but graduated from LaSalle College High School, in Philadelphia, worked for Bogle when he was 13 years old.
Aside from a couple other sizable gifts, most of the money came from a high volume of smaller donations. Father Wallace made a generous donation.
“Some people gave $10, some people gave $100, some gave $500, some people gave $10,000,” Bogle said.
The effort to keep the school open was given a challenge by Superintendent Bill Watson, who said they could only come to the table if they raised $1 million, got every student reregistered and came up with an aggressive fundraising and branding scheme, Bogle said.
All three were accomplished in two-and-a-half weeks, he added.
A few weeks ago, Bogle and Wallace met Sullivan at the bishop’s residence to present their plan to keep the school open.
“We think he was a little bit concerned, but we knew by the end of the meeting we had won his mind and heart,” Bogle said. ”We left feeling like we had done our job.”
At the graduation, like almost any Wildwood Catholic event, the sense of school pride was palpable. It went much better than anyone expected.
“I thought it was great. It was way better than what I expected to happen. Driving by the school, seeing a lot of the teachers, the families. It was really, really cool,” Sean Dougherty, a graduating senior, said.
Teachers lined the sidewalk outside the school and parents and grandparents stood to greet their graduates.
“It brought a tear to our eyes, watching them from the curbside. We had no idea what we were going to do. We didn’t know if it was going to be the last graduation. It was awesome,” said Janice Schumann, a literature and religion teacher at the high school.
According to Wallace, there are multiple factors that make Wildwood Catholic so special.
“The students that come to our school, they’re almost like a family. At the core of our charter is Christ and the gospel. I think having faith as the centerpiece is so important to our families who invest in their family’s education.
“Then our academic standard, especially with this new and improved academy, certainly prepares them for college and life in many ways. We are a very special place and anyone who encounters us in one way or another really feels and senses that,” he said.
Bogle agreed that the graduation was a hit.
“Absolutely, a positive sendoff. The kids all loved it,” he said.
For all in the Wildwood Catholic community, the graduation was what it should be, a sendoff for the class of 2020, not a sendoff for the school loved by so many.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com