able to raise well over $100,000."

The school is now about $176,000 short of their goal that has to be raised by May 1st.

"$176,000 is still a long way to go," Grant commented, "We are looking at the future of Catholics in this area and see ourselves as missionaries. Catholic education builds strong Catholic faith."

Although only founded in 2001, the school has amassed a tremendous record for its graduates. Already JPII has produced alumni that make the Catholic population proud, including graduates at Duke University, Boston College, Columbia, the United States Naval Academy and many other prestigious schools. The school also touts a 100% graduation rate.

Here are a few other facts about the students from John Paul II:

-The first graduating class of four students took place in May, 2004. This May will be our 8th graduating class.

-On average, our graduates receive over $1.2 million in college scholarships with an average class size around 32 students

-This year, our first graduate entered the seminary after attending John Paul II CHS for one year. He was not Catholic at the time, attended Florida State University, became involved with the Catholic student union, and converted to Catholicism and wants to become a priest.

-The National Center for Educational Statistics reports that 84% of students attending a Diocesan Catholic high school continue on to attend a 4-year university. Additionally, of all religion-based private high schools, a Diocesan Catholic high school has the highest graduation rate: 99.3% of all students!

-Minority admissions increased so much last year we added an additional van to transport Hispanic students from 30 minutes away, in the small town of Quincy, FL.  Most of those students receive scholarship funds from the Step Up for Students scholarship program (corporate tax scholarships) www.stepupforstudents.org and are the first generation to graduate high school.

- So far, three (3) JPII students have been accepted to the United States Naval Academy- two are current midshipmen and one graduated last year. 

- Class of 2011- 2 National Merit Scholars (top 1% in Nation) and one National Hispanic Scholar (class of 37) Class of 2010- 1 Presidential Scholar (3 from each STATE), 2 National Merit Scholars

For more information about supporting John Paul II High School, you can visit Crowdtilt at http://tilt.tc/jp2.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. 
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Catholic Education, John Paul II Catholic High School, fund raising, fundraising, Tallahassee, Florida

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