High graduation rate in Northwest Jacksonville schools leads to scholarship money for college

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Some local businesses are helping students in our area prepare for life after high school.

Two check presentations were made at Ribault High School on Wednesday to help students go to college.

This comes on the heels of DCPS having a graduation rate at an all-time high of 86.5 percent in 2018-2019 school year, including Ribault, which earned a 95.9 percent graduation -- for the first time in almost 10 years it reported a rate above 90%.

This wasn’t your typical high school career fair inside Ribault’s gym Wednesday morning.

Both Ribault and Raines high schools were presented with two $10,000 checks to go toward scholarships, testing vouchers, and student incentives.

Anthony Brown is a high school senior at Ribault. Brown says he plans to go to college after he graduates.

“This means a lot of for our school, especially for me. I know that there are kids that want to try hard but don’t have the resources,” Brown said.

Ribault junior Jeremiah Bell has a year to decide what he plans to do after high school.

“Advanced schools don’t really look at Ribault like they would other schools,” Bell said.

Principal Gregory Bostic says he understands how hard students work to get money to pay for college.

Bostic says scholarships will go to students at Raines and Ribault high schools.

Bostic says students will first need to write an essay.

He is hoping this will encourage students to do better in the classroom and give them the opportunity to go to college.

“A lot of the kids may not (be able to) afford to go to college whatever the case may be but this will get them started,” Bostic said.

But he says every student’s situation is different.

“It gives us more hope that we can do better and get looked at by better schools,” Brown explained.

Bostic says the scholarship money came from money raised at last year's gala for the 50th Raines-Ribault game.

The Jaguars Foundation, The Jacksonville Transportation Authority, The Community Foundation, Florida Blue, Baptist Health, Elite Parking of America, The PLAYERS and Cleve Warren partnered to invest in Northwest Jacksonville Schools.

The businesses invested into the 2019 Northwest Classic. Funds raised will be used for academic scholarships, testing vouchers and student incentives.

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