2022 End-of-Year Appeal
A Letter From Our Development Director
Dear Friends of St. John Paul II High School,
When we look back on all that God has done in the lives of the students in these past three years we are grateful. What once was just a dream has now become a reality: we have a Catholic High School in Northern Colorado. Each of the 36 students who walk through the classrooms, hallways and church sanctuary every day are pursuing God and what a blessing that is.
We want to invite you to help mold future generations. This great project forms the youth of Northern Colorado in Godly ways through a Catholic Education. Your financial support directly assists each student by giving them a place to discuss, grow and learn who they are in light of how God sees them. Without this critical formation we will not have the next generation of future Catholic leaders who really know their faith and live it out well.
Although blessed by the Archbishop, St. John Paul II High School is neither an archdiocesan school nor a parochial school, and so our existence depends solely on the generosity of individuals. Our annual End-of-Year Appeal, Building a Beacon of Light, is occurring now until December 31st. Last year, this appeal helped cover the majority of this year’s operating cost, i.e., everything needed to operate and grow St. John Paul II High School—our incredible faculty and staff, facilities, educational materials, etc.
I invite you to participate in this year’s End-of-Year Appeal, Building a Beacon of Light. You are who keep the Catholic High School in Northern Colorado an affordable option for families. You can mail checks to the school with the address below or online at www.jpiihs/donate. If you have any questions or would like to learn how to sponsor a student or give towards a specific cost, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your consideration.
We wish you a lovely Thanksgiving, a fruitful Advent and a Merry Christmas!
Many blessings,
Gina Brandt, Director of Development
Volunteer Call: 2023 Gala Committee
Interested in giving to St. John Paul II High School in a different way? Consider joining our volunteer committee for our 2023 Gala event!
We hope to build on the success of our first Gala this past year, and we need your help to do so. If you would like to join our committee or if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please fill out the form at this link (click here) before Friday, December 16, 2022.
Thank you for your consideration!
From the Headmaster’s Desk: Candle and Warm Drink Mornings
Just like that, it’s snowing. I’m one who’s quite taken with fall— the stillness of an autumnal dawn glazed over with a soft mist or a good rain is perhaps my favourite weather the world has to offer. Could it be bought, I’d spend with the eagerness of a child in a taffy shop.
My love of fall mornings are not just because of the tranquility, but also because of the familial traditions we have put in place when the weather begins to chill; when the sun is not yet quite up on a Saturday or Sunday morning, Kristen or I (or both, if we’re not totally sleep deprived) will go out and light a few candles. The house will start to warm by the stove and the oven, and we’ll prepare tea, coffee, cocoa, or sweetie milk so that as everyone rouses we can sit at the coffee table and just take in the luxurious peace of the day.
Frequently, that means we are accompanied by Jan and Stan Berenstein, Richard Scary, or Beatrix Potter if I can ply their attention a little longer. But this weekend I was unable to have Candle and Warm Drink morning with the children—I woke and prepared, all of the candles lit, making our Abuelita’s (complete with gnaw-marks of where one of the children got into it before I set it on the stove), and just as I had finished the preparations it was time for me to head back to the school for our
third-annual Donor Breakfast.
The Donor Breakfast, a chance to thank our donors who help us to make our school what it is, was very good this year. Mrs. Gina Brandt asked the donors make a brief introduction so we could all get to know one another in the room, and as part of the introduction had us speak to how we came to learn about the school. It was an embodiment of everything that Candle and Warm Drink mornings are for my little family—a chance to start the morning in quiet reflection of the gifts given to us by God. And so I was heartened not just by the Folgers (for it sure wasn’t Abuelita’s), and I wasn’t delighted by the dancing light of fluorescent pendants replacing the flicker of flame, but the gratitude that permeated the affair was apparent.
Or, I could say it was parent and grandparent, as we were joined by a number of friends who had children or grandchildren at the school and many others who did not but dreamed that someday they would. Here we were gathered together on a brilliant November morning to see the invitation the Lord had set before us to be at His table, to be warmed by His light, and to revel in the gift of Himself that had been set out for us—to be members of His Church and able in our gift and love to do His will.
And so I close with a hearty thanks to you all: to those who were able to attend the Donor Breakfast, for those generous hearts who support our school and our students, and for those who go out of their way to love our children. I hope you all will have the occasion to make time for a Candle and Warm Drink Morning in the next month of onsetting chill. Know that when I have mine this weekend, my family and I will be praying for you.
Blaise A. Hockel, Headmaster