Luke Dalton ’95 & Alissa DeJonge, Mercy ’95
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f e w m o n t h s a g o , M e r c y President Alissa DeJonge ’95 and her husband Luke Dalton ’95 went looking for DeJonge’s high school diploma. The couple, who met at a Xavier football game in the fall of 1994, never found the diploma, but they did find something else they recognized – DeJonge’s valedictorian speech from senior year. “When I read it, I realized I could still say this now. It was a simple message, it was not very long, but it was poignant,” DeJonge said. “As a high school student I was just beginning to realize what was important to me and it has continued.”
ClassActs
Plenty has changed in DeJonge’s life, but some things will always remain, like her love for Mercy High School, and her loyal editing partner. As class valedictorians, DeJonge and Dalton got together to help each other as they drafted their speeches. Now 25 years later, the couple, and their fouryear-old son Pierce, have returned to the place that brought them together. I n J u l y, D e J o n g e , w h o h a d previously worked as an economist for Advance CT, took over for Sister Mary McCarthy, R.S.M., as the first lay president in the history of the school. “As we were going through the process, I couldn’t help but think that it was a perfect fit,” Dalton said about his wife getting the job. “She knows the mission of Mercy and the culture, and she has this outside knowledge of how to carry it forward for the next generations. I never had any doubts that this was the right move and the right fit for her, and for Mercy.” From their first date (a trip to the movies to see “Outbreak” in the spring of 1995) to that trip to the Cromwell Ruby Tuesday to review their valedictorian speeches, the couple, who have been married for 13 years,
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“Luke supports me with anything I want to do – and that is when I thrive. I think that is why our connection runs so deep.”
