“Send Forth and Renew”: JPIIHS Class of 2024 Graduation!
On the 18th, this Saturday past, we of the community of St. John Paul II High School were able to celebrate the graduates of the class of 2024. This one day encapsulated much of the uniqueness of their entire high school experience as these pilgrims to the new high school were able to be the first graduates from the land which will soon be the permanent home of JPIIHS.
It was an occasion of much joy, and one that I will think fondly of over these coming months of construction. Truly, it will be the firm foundation that only memory of a great good can provide.
This link is to the speech made by our commencement speaker, Dr. Edward Mulholland, whom we were so honored to have join us. Thank you, Dr. Mulholland, for your exceptional words and congratulations to the class of 2024!
Blaise A. Hockel, Headmaster
Class of 2024: Where Are They Headed?
Save the Date: 2024 Adventure Gala!
Don’t miss out on your chance to support our school, and have a lot of fun doing it! Our 2024 Adventure Gala is on September 28, 2024, and the theme this year is Kentucky Derby.
Tickets are now on sale, so reserve your spot early! Purchase your spot before June 30 and get your ticket at 2023 pricing ($85). Tickets can be found here: https://bebids.me/bidapp/index.php?slug=stjpiihs
Student Article: A Farewell to JPIIHS
Vincent B., Senior
I will most likely never forget my first day at St John Paul II High School. I walked into the room outside the Parish Hall of Our Lady of the Valley Church, which had generously agreed to house the school for the time period during which it did not have a building of its own. Everyone was standing in a circle, with a mask on because it was in the middle of COVID, and not saying a word. Unbelievably at the time, many of these people would become some of my closest friends. We walked with all the awkwardness of fourteen- to fifteen-year-olds back to one of two classrooms we were using that year, and got introductions from our four teachers. I wondered at that moment just what I had gotten myself into.
Now though, I realize that although I was scared in this moment, I couldn’t have even conceived of what was coming. An important reason why those very people who I mentioned, my class, were to become my great friends was the education I was going to receive at this new school. This education not only prepared me and my class for citizenship, the workforce, or college (which it did exceptionally), but also for something far more valuable than these: good and holy friendships with others.
Going into it, I didn’t know what Plato would have to do with my life, or what the medieval philosophers could have possibly had to teach me today as a modern American. The Old Testament was just long history books and lists, right? All these things I thought upon entering, and through the wonderful work of my teachers and fruitful discussions with my classmates, challenging each other daily in our discussion-oriented classes, I came to learn that all these had something to teach me right now about how to live a good life. This, coupled with the spiritual formation of our Theology classes along with daily mass, school-wide prayer and the generosity of all the priests who have been involved with our school, not only showed us what it meant to live a joyfully Catholic life, but also challenged us to do just that. For that formation, I will always be thankful, as it was extremely important in these years of my life that were so formative and where I was budding with questions.
Looking forward now, I realized a few weeks before the end of my senior year that I will not know everything there is to know. I did find this unfortunate at first but have come to terms with it. Going into college next year with friendships already beginning, I am prepared and filled with confidence from the way that this education has taught me to think about things and use my mind well. I am living the words that have grown to be a favorite of mine, since they were repeated by our namesake to thousands during his papacy: “Be not afraid.”