Class of 2009 Helps Honor the Memory of Emilie Izzo
In February, the Saint Joseph Academy community lost one of its sisters, Emilie Izzo '24.
To honor Emilie’s life and love of earrings, students, faculty and staff wore special earrings to pay tribute to her memory. This unexpected death struck a chord with the Class of 2009, who lost their beloved classmate, Dana Care '09, to cancer during their senior year, and another classmate and “25 Under 35” honoree Darcy Egan '09, also to cancer in 2018.
Several members of the Class of 2009 reached out to Saint Joseph Academy, banded together as a class, developed and funded a thoughtful gift to celebrate Emilie’s life and legacy. The Class of 2009 commissioned a female artist and business owner Tulanari Design to create a pair of earrings for each member of the Class of 2024. 'Tula' means balance and 'Nari' means woman.
"These earrings are to be a reminder to you of all you have balanced this year as a woman and as a freshman at the Academy. The Class of 2009 passed on five words that students used to describe Emilie and Tulanari used these words as an inspiration to create these earrings. Our hope is never, ever to explain the suffering that so many of you endured this year or to explain why something like this would happen to Emilie. Instead, our hope is always to find the light. These earrings remind us of that. We're hoping that they can be worn proudly for special occasions here at the Academy that we attend as a class, including our upperclass induction, graduation, etc. They remind us not just of Emilie, but of the ways we have grown together as a class," shared CORE Ministry teacher and Class of 2024 co-moderator Kristen Busa.
Several members of the Class of 2009 reached out to Saint Joseph Academy, banded together as a class, developed and funded a thoughtful gift to celebrate Emilie’s life and legacy. The Class of 2009 commissioned a female artist and business owner Tulanari Design to create a pair of earrings for each member of the Class of 2024. 'Tula' means balance and 'Nari' means woman.
"These earrings are to be a reminder to you of all you have balanced this year as a woman and as a freshman at the Academy. The Class of 2009 passed on five words that students used to describe Emilie and Tulanari used these words as an inspiration to create these earrings. Our hope is never, ever to explain the suffering that so many of you endured this year or to explain why something like this would happen to Emilie. Instead, our hope is always to find the light. These earrings remind us of that. We're hoping that they can be worn proudly for special occasions here at the Academy that we attend as a class, including our upperclass induction, graduation, etc. They remind us not just of Emilie, but of the ways we have grown together as a class," shared CORE Ministry teacher and Class of 2024 co-moderator Kristen Busa.
The earrings were fastened to a card that read: 'May these earrings always remind you to keep shining your light. Even on the days it feels a little bit hard. Only you can do that.'
"The color and design of these earrings brought to life the vision that I had when this idea was first proposed. I think these earrings emulate Emilie's bright character and fun attitude. Our class hopes to continue to honor Emilie's memory by wearing these earrings at school events, continuing to pray in her memory while honoring her name and position in the Class of 2024 as our high school careers continue," shared Vivian Ahern ’24.
