Mount Paran Christian School celebrated its 103 seniors through the Senior Parade tradition and Commencement at Turner Chapel A.M.E. Church on Saturday.
Led by new Head of School, Dr. Matthew S. Kerlin, the Commencement ceremony includes the traditional graduation presentation of diplomas and Bibles. Chosen by each graduation, a MPCS faculty member prays over the student and family. The ceremony program included speeches from Valedictorian Aiden Gilmore who will attend Georgia Tech and Salutatorian Michael Jones who will attend Notre Dame. The MPCS class of 2025 has been accepted into some of the nation’s fi nest colleges, universities, and military academies.
The celebration started on Wednesday, May 14, with the sixth-annual Senior Parade through the MPCS 68-acre campus. The seniors and their families decorated their cars with balloons, streamers, posters, and fl ags representing their college destinations to take part in the parade. MPCS teachers, staff, parents, and underclassmen were stationed in cheering positions along the school parade route. In addition to senior chapel and honors night, the parade provides a final opportunity to recognize the graduating class’s hard work, dedication, and accomplishments.
ABOUT THE CLASS OF 2025
The class of 2025’s many accomplishments included acceptance into some of the nation’s fi nest colleges and universities. Students have received acceptance into 112 colleges and universities, of which 21 are in-state and 91 are out-of-state. Out of the 112 acceptances, 67 are public schools and 45 are private schools. Out of the 45 private schools, 23 are Christian colleges.
Some of the highly-selective school acceptances are: Case Western Reserve University, Clemson University, Dartmouth College, Florida State University Furman University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, New York University, San Diego State University, Southern Methodist University, Spelman College, Syracuse University, Texas Christian University, University of Central Florida, University of Georgia, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, University of South Florida, University of Tampa, University of Virginia, and Wake Forest University.
The top colleges that will be attended by the class of 2025 students are:
- Kennesaw State University— 10 students to attend
- University of Georgia and Auburn University — each has 9 students to attend (UGA with a 41% admittance rate)
- Georgia Institute of Technology — 7 students to attend (50% admittance rate)
- Samford University and Berry College — each has 6 students to attend
- Georgia College and State University and the University of Alabama – each has 5 students to attend
Out of all scholarship funds reported from the class of 2025, one student was selected as a National Merit Scholar; 69 students will receive merit-based academic achievement scholarships, and 22 students will receive athletic scholarships, combining to a total of more than 9 million dollars. This does not include an estimated 3.4 million dollars of HOPE/Zell Miller scholarship funding, which totals to an estimated 12.4 million dollars of scholarship offerings, and $120,000+ per student on average!
