Grosse Pointe Park — As she addressed the seven students who would make up Austin Catholic High School’s first graduating class May 27, principal Janelle Coppens paused to collect herself, a tissue dabbing her eye.

“You all made a choice to go to a school that was new, that was unheard of, that had little or no sports and didn’t have all the bells and whistles of the big schools. You went down the road less traveled, and you made a trail,” said Coppens.

The newest co-ed high school in the Archdiocese of Detroit might still lack a few bells and whistles, but it’s come a long way since opening its doors in 2011 in Ray Township. On May 27, it sent seven students out into the world as the first alumni of the northern Macomb County school.

Commencement exercises at St. Clare of Montefalco Church in Grosse Pointe Park hearkened back to the school’s roots as the Augustinian-inspired successor of the former Detroit-based Austin Catholic Prep, an all-boys school that closed in 1978 and once held its own graduations there. Graduates of the former school, including commencement speaker Alan Harvard of its inaugural 1956 class, were in attendance to wish Oscar Aponte, Jacquelyn Eubanks, Stephanie Fletcher, Taelase Leota, Regina Marogi, Nora Walker and Tara Warner well as they prepared to embark on their college careers.

“I always looked forward and wondered, would I be able to pick out people that I recognized from my graduating class?” said Marogi, the class of 2015’s valedictorian. “Well, I guess I don’t have to worry about that.”

A baccalaureate Mass was celebrated by Fr. Bernie Scianna, OSA, provincial of the Midwest Augustinians, and concelebrated by several other priests, including members of the school’s board of directors. During the commencement, Coppens read a letter from Cardinal Adam Maida, who approved the initial plan for the school and congratulated its first graduates.

Austin’s enrollment is expected to reach nearly 80 students next year, with 14 projected to graduate in 2016. Since opening, the school has expanded its academic and extracurricular offerings, including several clubs, arts and even sports opportunities through a partnership with nearby New Haven High School.

Since opening, Austin has operated out of a leased building on 26 Mile Road through the public school district, despite owning nearly 100 acres of its own on 23 Mile Road. While plans for a new building on that property fell through because of a stale economic climate in 2011, Coppens announced to benefactors May 23 that Austin’s board of directors had committed to re-exploring that possibility.

“We are thrilled that this journey, that began over 20 years ago, is coming to a reality,” Coppens said in a statement. “These seven young men and women are the beginning of something new while carrying on the long tradition that Austin Prep and the Augustinians have created. I couldn’t be more proud of these young people.”