Staff photo by Clay Schuldt Elizabeth Kassuelke (front center) was full of emotion as the her class officially became high school graduates.

NEW ULM — The 53 students in Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s class of 2019 graduated Sunday afternoon.

Class speakers were Valedictorian Stephanie Dalueg and Salutatorian Elizabeth Kassuelke. Dalueg said with graduation she and her classmates would no longer have the comfortable MVL family bubble.

“That can be a daunting task,” she said, “but the training we’ve had here for the past four years has been preparing us to enter the real world. A world that may not acknowledge our God, but is controlled by it.”

In closing, she said that “with God fighting for us, no one could be against us.”

Kassuelke thanked the teachers and parents.

“None of us would be here without all of you,” she said.

Standing on the precipice of adulthood, Kassuelke admitted she was nervous, but reminded her fellow graduates that this was not the end, but a beginning.

“With everything you have learned in the last four years, now is our opportunity to bring that into the rest of the world,” she said. “With a cornerstone of faith and a God who can move mountains, just imagine what we can do.”

Kassuelke ended her speech with a quote from poet Clementine von Radic: “The world is waiting for you to set it on fire. Trust in yourself.”

Prof. Ross Stelljes gave the commencement address. Reading from the Book of John, Chapter 14, Verse 27, Stelljes said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Stelljes said this verse conjured images of a lake. The peace is when the lake is calm in the morning, the trouble is when a storm creates whitecaps on the lake.

“Which one best matches what is going on inside you?” He asked the graduates. “This is a watershed moment in your lives. Your life will never be the same after this.”

He said the graduates could face this new stage of their life without trouble or being afraid by going into the peace that Jesus granted them.

With the Class of 2019 departing, MVL has officially graduated over 2,000 students in the school’s history. These students were the first graduating class to be born in the 21st century.