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Another School Year Begins…
On February 5, 2024, John Paul Secondary School opened its doors to our students who were eagerly waiting to get back to their studies and to see their friends again after their 2-month end-of-year break. They were warmly greeted by Fr John Chrysostom, Director, Moses Bwayo, Headteacher, and all the teachers. When our students return to school after a long break, it’s much like moving back into a college dorm. They must bring all their clothing and personal items in one trunk plus they bring their own mattresses, linens, and mosquito netting. They are accompanied by their parents or guardians who bring them to school by bus or car and…
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2024 Construction and Groundbreaking
Year 2023 saw the culmination of two essential and large projects, the Multipurpose building supported with a, large modern kitchen, and our big water project. Giddy from the success of these two projects we have even more ambitious plans for 2024 which are well underway. With the school now approaching 700 students with a staff of 50 we need more of everything – beds, classrooms, books, land and the list goes on. Our plan addresses each of these issues. The first priority is increasing the size of the campus, and we have come up with a creative means to acquire a large parcel. Currently there is a primary school with…
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Terrific Test Results!
Quoting our JPSS Director Fr. John, we are “over the moon” with excitement over our S4 students’ just-released 2023 UCE testing results! They once again ranked #1 in the Pallisa District and, based on their average scores, the school is now in the top 20% in the whole country in UCE results! Many thanks and congratulations to our wonderful teachers and staff for making this happen! The exams that these students take last for several days. Students take 10 subject exams, each of which is typically 2.5 hours. Each exam results in a score for that subject of 1 – 9. A “1” is the top grade awarded, down…
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Thrivent’s Impact for JPSS
Hi, I’m Kim Dwyer, Financial Advisor at Thrivent and huge fan of Friends of John Paul Secondary School. One of the many reasons I love my job is that I help families every single day live and leave a legacy in their faith, family, and finances. I work with people just like you to help them organize their finances, align their goals to their values, and create a clear financial strategy. One of the most exciting things that happens within these conversations is when people realize that they can be more generous than they imagined – and they gain confidence knowing the people and causes they care about are taken…
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Local Community Impact
A core part of the Friends of John Paul School mission is that all development efforts for the school include a positive impact for the local Chelekura and broader Pallisa communities. We hope to accomplish this by utilizing local labor workers for construction and campus development, employing locals for non-teaching staff and where qualified, as teachers, assisting with local business development, purchasing locally as much as possible, and by the inclusion of the community in all water access and distribution projects. of the non teaching staff are locals of the food supplies for the entire campus are sourced locally Locals can now easily retrieve their daily water from a 4…
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Campus-wide Water Distribution Project Complete!
We are very excited to announce that the JPSS water project is now complete! Access to clean water has been an ongoing journey since the beginning of John Paul Secondary School in 2007. Initially our students and teachers would walk long distances to reach the community well in order to fill their Jerry cans of water needed for drinking and bathing. After several attempts, we were successful in digging a functioning well on campus in 2015 which made the journey to retrieve much shorter for students and the local community alike. The hand pump served the campus well for a long time, but as the school community continued to grow,…
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A Fun Evening and Successful Fundraiser!
The 9th Annual Wine Tasting Fundraiser, benefitting the students at John Paul Secondary School, held October 5th at the chic Silver Spoon Ristorante was attended again this year by a SOLD-OUT crowd! In addition to our many loyal returning guests, we were pleased to welcome 25 new guests for the first time! This year’s event was also very profitable, raising an amazing $34,500! Once again, the Silver Spoon provided five delicious small plates which were accompanied by five outstanding wines. Back by popular demand were a variety of beautiful African baskets from the local areas in Uganda. These baskets were offered for sale as an additional way for guests to…
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Giving Tuesday 2023
What is Giving Tuesday? Giving Tuesday is a global initiative that encourages people and organizations to donate their time and money to charitable causes on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving in the United States. It was created in 2012 and has grown every year. No need to wait until November 28th – Donate Now! Please mail checks made out to Friends of John Paul School to: Friends of John Paul SchoolP.O. Box 80815Rochester, MI 48308-0815 or Thank YOU so much for your support this year and always!
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Our Trip to JPSS – by Linda and Brian Dinsmore
Upon our arrival, the Berrigan Activity center was packed with enthusiastic school leaders, teachers, parents and students. Gratitude was in the air and expressed through prayer, singing and beautiful smiles. Our campus tour included a discussion with the water project manager, whose passion for the project was evident as he explained their progress. The new Comerford Family Kitchen is another accomplishment all orchestrated by Vincent Mutyaba, our engineer. Our students are proud of their dorms, however more housing is needed not only for our students, but also for our teachers. Our dedicated teachers and school leaders deserve private housing in order for them to rest and rejuvenate in order to…
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Distribution Day!
You, our amazing donors, responded to our call to be able to bring supplies and gear for each of our students, teachers and staff (over 700 people!). Charity wish list orders of sports bras, socks, and drawstring bags poured into Paul and Nancy’s house, and gently used ties were donated by, in some cases, the hundreds! All were carefully packed into 16 large duffle bags that were divided up between the board members traveling to Uganda. Once at the school, we had the whole of Berrigan Hall and all the tables to lay out the items so the students could proceed in and select one of each. Our visiting team…
