Meet four shining lights from the Class of 2026

Extraordinary students graduated from Catholic high schools across the Archdiocese of Baltimore at the end of this academic year. The Catholic Review highlights four of them.

Catherine Freymann

As she looked ahead to her senior year at Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville, Catherine Freymann was planning to go to college immediately after graduation. The senior is a strong student who is actively involved on campus, tutoring her peers and serving as executive treasurer on the student council.

But while attending a convention during the Jubilee of Youth in Rome last summer, Freymann felt called to take a gap year to serve as a missionary.

“We were just praying in adoration, and we were writing down what we want to give to God. And of course you want to give your whole self,” said Freymann, 17. She found herself thinking, “I want to give a year to God.”

So, next year Freymann will serve as a missionary through Regnum Christi, an international Catholic organization. She will find out this summer where she will serve.

Missionary work isn’t new to Freymann, who traveled to Poland the summer after her freshman year. She served in street missions, carrying a cross and walking around asking people for their prayer intentions.

After spending the next year as a missionary, Freymann will study strategic management and theology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

“All my experiences have really led me to that conclusion that how I am supposed to live out God’s mission is in love and out of love,” said Freymann, the third of four children and a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park. “Just trying to love the most and love as Christ did … that’s your mission, and that looks different for different people.”

Quinn Fitz-Patrick

Quinn Fitz-Patrick has been playing lacrosse since she could walk. But she’s always open to trying something new, so this year she decided to try out for – and made – the badminton team.

Playing badminton taught her that “you can mess up, and you can find a way to fix it,” said Fitz-Patrick, who was an attacker on the Notre Dame Preparatory School lacrosse team.

Seeking out new opportunities has been part of Fitz-Patrick’s approach to high school. A multi-sport athlete who also plays field hockey and studies Irish dancing, Fitz-Patrick is the president of her Towson school’s Christian Community Awareness Program.

“I’ve been a pretty happy person, but once I became involved, I gained a different sense of happiness,” said Fitz-Patrick, who is 18, lives in Cockeysville, and is a parishioner of St. Joseph, Cockeysville. “I became friends with the entire NDP community. Freshman year, my goal was to try to know everyone’s name, and I can confidently say I know every single girl in my class.”

Fitz-Patrick has participated in almost every service offering at her Towson high school, working with the elderly and those with disabilities, traveling on a service trip to Starkville, Miss., to build a house through Habitat for Humanity and raising money for NDP’s sister school in Nigeria and the Thirst Project.

The second of three children hopes to continue service work at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City, where she will play lacrosse and plans to major in public policy.

“Honestly, I’m really excited about the unknown,” she said. “For high school, I had no idea what I was going to do.”

Dillon-Seth Smith

As president of the Student Government Association at Archbishop Curley High School in Baltimore, Dillon-­Seth Smith has channeled his energy into several aspects of campus leadership.

But one of which he is particularly proud is creating monthly dress-down days where students make a $3 donation to dress down – and send the money to a particular charity. This year, the students have made contributions to support suicide awareness, breast cancer awareness, hurricane relief and organizations including the Ulman Foundation, which helps adolescents and young adults who are affected by cancer.

It’s just one way Smith feels he’s been able to have an impact during his time at Curley.

“SGA has given me a great opportunity to grow in my leadership,” said Smith, 18. “Curley is a breeding ground of opportunity. If you want to do something, you can just make it happen.”

Smith has found that as a member of the track and cross country teams who interns in the advancement office and serves on the Franciscan Leaders Encountering Christ team.

“I’ve also grown from doing community service,” he said. “I’ve gained some new perspectives from talking to people in need. You’d be surprised to find that they’re very optimistic in life.”

A Women’s Education Alliance scholar who interned for Whiting-Turner, Smith earned a full scholarship to Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He plans to major in engineering with a minor in law and justice in society and become a contract lawyer.

He graduates grateful for his high school experience, including in how Curley helped the only child of a Baptist minister grow in his faith.

“Curley has really helped deepen my faith,” he said. “I like knowing that even though I’m not Catholic, I have a safe space to talk about Christ.”

Nicholas Argerson

Nicholas Argerson is serious about his life goals. He wants to have a successful career in finance. But he is equally focused on his personal aspirations.

“I want to have a great family, be a great father and stay rooted in faith,” he said. “I’ve always looked up to my dad. I feel like he’ll always be there for me. He always asks me what’s up, and he’s so proud of me. He always set a great example to me, and I want to do that for my kids, too.”

After graduating from St. Mary’s High School in Annapolis, Argerson is heading to his father’s alma mater, James Madison University in Virginia, where he will study finance. He leaves behind classmates he’s known at St. Mary’s since kindergarten, teammates from his time on the basketball team, his sister who will be a junior at St. Mary’s in the fall and his mother who teaches there.

The Annapolis resident is tied into the broader community, as well. Through his faith community, St. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, Annapolis, Argerson serves the Annapolis Light House – a homelessness prevention center – supporting the food pantry there.

And through St. Mary’s, he’s involved in at the Stanton Community Center, where he helps with the afterschool program, doing homework with elementary school students and playing with them.

“It’s a humbling experience,” said Argerson, who is 17 and lives in the Bay Ridge area of Annapolis. “They are struggling with learning. Some of them have learning disabilities, and it’s a little hard. They’re pretty shy, but they open up to you.”

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