JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The diagnosis was Entamoeba histolytica, which is an infection caused by ingesting an amoeba that produces fatigue, abdominal pain, weight loss, and a few more symptoms you don’t want to have when you are more than 9,000 miles from home.
That’s where Christopher Trinidad happened to be during a visit to his parents’ homeland in the Philippines the summer before the eighth grade.
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Christopher’s immune system was not accustomed to some of the pathogens found in the local food. He had not built up a resistance like residents have. Lying in a hospital bed in the city of Bacolod, while the antibiotics did their thing, Christopher had this thought: “This has to be my science fair project.”
And so it was.
After returning home, Christopher ordered microorganisms online. “Safer organisms,” he said, than the one that waylaid him a few weeks earlier. He experimented with various items found in the kitchen pantry – ginger and garlic – mixed them with water and other ingredients and developed a solution that killed the organisms.
“What if,” Christopher thought, “we use these solutions on the actual thing? This can help so many people.”
His project finished first at a regional science fair.
“Impressive, right? Wait until you hear what he did his freshman year,” said Carla Chin, director of marketing and communications at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville.
Christopher, a sophomore, attends the parochial Catholic school on a Florida education choice scholarship managed by Step Up For Students.
He sat in a chair inside Chin’s office. His father, Greg, sat in another and proudly listened as his son, with a mixture of pride and modesty, described the project that earned first place at a regional science fair and then a bronze medal at the Genius Olympiad and a $15,000 scholarship to the Rochester Institute of Technology at a global competition held in Rochester, New York.
Using an electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures electrical activity in the brain, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and violin music, Christopher was able to predict the moods and emotions of stroke victims who are unable to speak, thus creating a line of communication with doctors.
“By using brain waves, doctors can know what their patients are feeling, which would lead to better decision-making,” he said.
Michael Broach is the Vice Principal at Bishop Kenny and the Director of Mission Integration, as well as the AP Capstone Department chair. He was responsible for approving Christopher’s science project.
“That was one of the most sophisticated projects, I think, that I've seen in my years of being here,” Broach said. “And just the way his mind works is well above his peers. Well above what you would expect of somebody of his age.”
Christopher is 15.
He wants to be a neurosurgeon.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the brain since I was little,” Christopher said. “It controls everything in our body. It’s really interesting, and going into surgery, fixing people's brains is really complex, and that's what I love about it.”
His parents – Greg and Shiela – are both nurses, so Christopher was raised around medical science. Their house is filled with textbooks related to their careers. Christopher has read them all.
The valedictorian of his middle school, Christopher has a 4.3 weighted GPA at Bishop Kenny. He chose to attend the Catholic high school because it aligns with his faith and has a high academic standard.
“It challenges me,” he said. “I know there are other people here I can talk to, and it gives me a greater experience.”
He’s not the only student at Bishop Kenny who knows what an electroencephalogram is and how it works.
While he spends a considerable amount of time working on his science fair projects (keep reading to learn about what his plans are for this year’s project), he’s very active at school. Christopher is a member of the Science Club, Medical Career Club, St. Vincent de Paul Society, campus ministry, and the Brain Brawl. He plays the piano at the monthly mass. He’s also first violin for the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Listening to his son talk, Greg had one feeling. “Blessed,” he said. “He has a humble heart. We try to remind him always what’s hard.”
Greg understands hard.
Raised in a small town an hour’s plane ride from Manila, Greg’s childhood was humble at best. He went through elementary school with only two pairs of shoes. He caught rides to school on trucks headed to the sugarcane fields on days when his mom couldn’t afford bus fare.
“I didn’t have the opportunity to join the Boy Scouts,” Greg said. “My mom didn’t have the money.”
Greg understood the power of an education and where it could lead him. He became a teacher until, at age 26, he immigrated to the United States in search of the American Dream.
He worked odd jobs and became a certified nursing assistant. From there, he attended nursing school in St. Augustine. He now works as a traveling nurse in the cardiac catheterization labs in hospitals around North Florida. He became a traveling nurse for the pay because he and Sheila support three family members in the Philippines.
That’s why Christopher traveled to the Philippines the summer before eighth grade, to see where his parents’ stories began.
“I wanted him to see and feel the difference of being here in this world compared to a third-world country,” Greg said.
The lesson wasn’t lost on his son.
“I just feel really lucky that I'm here in America and I have more opportunities than some kids have in the Philippines, and I’m not going to let this go to waste,” Christopher said.
Greg said he is grateful for the Florida education choice scholarship that helps pay Christopher’s tuition at Kenny.
“In the Philippines,” he said, “if you don’t have money, you don’t go to school.
“He has this opportunity of having this scholarship, and I'm telling him, you're way more blessed than what other people have in other states. We're so thankful that all these opportunities are coming for our son.”
Christopher’s next opportunity is this year’s science fair, where he will take last year’s project a step further.
“I'm planning to build a rehabilitative exoskeleton so it can help people with movement disabilities,” he said. “I can also use an EEG in that, so they can think about what they're going to do with their exoskeleton, which basically helps them move. It would correlate to their actual thoughts. So, if they wanted to walk, they would be able to think it, then the exoskeleton would help them walk.”
TAMPA, Fla. — Amelia Ramos recalls her oldest child’s first school experience after moving to the Grant Park neighborhood in 2018.
“It was not a good fit,” she said. “She lasted about four months.”
In addition to academics, Ramos cited safety as a big concern.
“You couldn’t even ride a bicycle down the street,” she said.
Ramos found hope after learning about Grant Park Christian Academy, a private school affiliated with the Faith Action Ministry Alliance. The nonprofit organization’s stated mission is “to strengthen neighborhoods through meaningful engagement, collaboration, and strategic partnerships.”
Grant Park Christian Academy prides itself on its record of providing strong academics and spiritually based character development. Ramos learned from the school’s principal about a state education choice K-12 scholarship program administered by Step Up For Students that would help cover the tuition.
With that, Ramos was sold.
Her daughter thrived at Grant Park and now attends a district high school. Her son and twin daughters now attend the private school, which serves 70 students in grades K-8.
“We love the school and the staff,” she said, adding that she appreciates the assurance of knowing that her children are safe when she leaves them at Grant Park Christian Academy.
“If only they had a high school,” she said.
Although there are no plans to add a high school, an expansion will soon more than double the school's capacity, located inside a gated property owned by a non-denominational church.
The project is just one example of a broader statewide trend resulting from the Florida Legislature’s passage of HB 1 in 2023. The landmark legislation made all K-12 students eligible for education choice scholarships regardless of their household income and gave families more flexibility in how they spend their students’ funds.
Putting parents in the driver’s seat supercharged the demand for more learning options.
In the 2023-24 school year, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1, Florida saw the largest single-year expansion of education choice scholarships in U.S. history. That growth continued in 2024-25. Recent figures from the Florida Department of Education show that more than 500,000 Florida students were using some type of education savings account.
The expansions at Grant Park Christian Academy and other schools across the state, such as Jupiter Christian School in Palm Beach County, couldn’t come at a better time. The latest figures from Step Up For Students show that the number of approved private schools has surpassed 2,500. That figure doesn’t include a la carte options, including those now being offered by public schools. State figures show 41,000 parents received scholarships in 2024-25 but never used them. According to a survey by Step Up For Students, a third of the 2,739 parents who responded said there were no available seats at the schools they wanted.
The Rev. Alfred Johnson, who founded the ministry alliance and Grant Park Christian Academy in 2014, said the school is just one of the ways the ministry works to support and improve the neighborhood. A look outside the window once a month will show teams of alliance volunteers in neon yellow vests cleaning up roadside trash. Johnson estimates that over the past three years, the group has cleared 70 tons of garbage, including old mattresses, furniture, and household appliances.
Johnson and his volunteers regularly knock on doors and survey residents and business owners about community needs. They also host events; the annual Fall Fest offers families a safe and fun alternative to Halloween trick-or-treating.
“I know what they do to really make a change in this community,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Donna Cameron Cepeda, a Republican who represents District 5 and the county at large. She said she had known Johnson for years before she ran for office. “You can see the lives, how they have been changed because of the environment they are able to be in now.”
She was among a group of 50 community members at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new 2,660-square-foot modular building that will open after crews add the finishing touches.
Those attending the event represented a broad swath of community leaders, from local law enforcement officers to staffers at the Temple Terrace Uptown Chamber of Commerce, who brought the ceremonial oversized scissors. A representative of the Hillsborough County Clerk’s Office also attended. So did a group of leaders and students from Cristo Rey Tampa Salesian High School, which has some Grant Park Christian Academy alums.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers, a Democrat whose district includes Grant Park, joined her Republican colleague in praising the alliance and the school. The two commissioners also presented Johnson with a commendation honoring his contributions to the community.
“Our children are our future leaders, and when we can give them the basic foundation of education, they are going somewhere,” Myers said. “Just remember where they got their start, right here in Grant Park. What you’re doing is being a true public servant. Thank you for your vision.”
A husband, father of six, and grandfather of 12, Johnson refers to the students at Grant Park as “our babies” and describes the school as a haven of safety and peace.
“We hardly ever have any fights here,” he said. The school day starts at 7:30 a.m. After-school care is available until 5 p.m. Grant Park also offers summer camp, tutoring, mentoring and career preparation programs for the community, where the median household income stands at $32,216, and 72% of households make less than $50,000 per year. About 20% of the population did not graduate from high school. Although the area still has crime, Johnson said it has decreased over the past five years. Educational opportunities such as Grant Park Christian Academy and adult education and training play a role in improving the area’s quality of life, he said.
Johnson said he has seen many students turn their lives around. He told guests about a boy who was put outside the room for disrupting class on his first day.
“I don’t like this school,” he snarled.
“Give us a chance,” Johnson replied. He encouraged the boy to focus on his studies and respect his teachers. “You’re going to be a great leader and a great man.”
By the second year, the boy’s attitude completely changed. Test results that year showed he had the highest reading score in the school.
“That’s just one of the stories,” he said. “We have a plethora of them.”
If education freedom were a hockey game, Florida just scored a Texas hat trick.
For the fourth consecutive year, Florida was ranked the No. 1 state for education freedom for K-12 students and families in The Heritage Foundation’s annual Education Freedom Report Card. The 2025 Heritage rankings come after a landmark year of state legislative sessions that delivered wins for students and families.
Florida leaders credited the state’s ranking to policies that give parents control over their children’s education dollars, offering a plethora of choices, including a la carte courses provided by school districts and charter schools.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs HB 1, which offered families universal eligibility to Florida education choice scholarship programs.
“In Florida, we are committed to ensuring parents have the power to make the education decisions that are best for their child,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in 2023 signed legislation that offered universal eligibility for K-12 state education choice scholarship programs that allow families to direct their dollars toward the best options for their children. “Florida offers a robust array of educational choices, which has solidified our state as a national leader in education freedom, parental power, and overall K-12 education.”
Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas said earning the top ranking for four years affirms the state’s long-term commitment to families.
“Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, Florida will continue honoring parents’ right to choose the best educational option for their child’s individualized needs. I am proud that Florida offers so many educational options that parents can have confidence in.”
Since the Education Freedom Report Card began in 2022, Florida has earned the top ranking every year. The report card uses five categories: school choice, transparency, regulatory freedom, civic education, and spending to rank states.
In addition to Florida receiving the overall top spot for Education Freedom, it also earned high rankings in the following categories:
Earlier this year, the Sunshine State also earned national recognition for putting dollars behind its policies. In January, the national advocacy group EdChoice put Florida first on its list of each state’s spending on education choice programs proportional to total education spending.
According to the EdChoice report, Florida became the first state to spend more than 10% of its combined private choice and public-school expenditures on its choice programs, rising from an 8% spending share in 2024.
Florida also reached a historic milestone when, for the first time, more than half of all K-12 students were enrolled in an educational choice option. During the 2023–24 school year, 1,794,697 students, out of the state’s approximately 3.5 million K-12 population, used a learning option other than their assigned district school.
Florida gives parents the ability to direct the education of their children. Today about half of all K-12 students in the state attend a school of choice, and 500,000 students participate in state educational choice scholarship programs.
Gov. Ron DeSantis accelerated these trends in 2023, when he signed HB 1 and made every student eligible for a scholarship. No school can take any student for granted, and state funding follows students to the learning options they choose.
Unfortunately, misleading claims amplified in the media have blamed this expansion of parental choice for school districts’ budget challenges.
Sarasota County Schools, for example, recently estimated that scholarships “siphoned” $45 million from its budget, a figure cited in a WUSF article. In reality, most of the $45 million represents funding for students that Sarasota was never responsible for educating, such as those already in private schools, homeschooling or charter schools. It also does not account for students who return to district schools after using a scholarship. Once those factors are considered, the actual impact is considerably smaller than the headline number suggests.
For the 2024-25 school year, Sarasota County lost just 330 public school students to scholarship programs, but only 245 of those students came from district-run public schools. If those students had stayed, they would have brought the district about $2 million, not $45 million. That figure still does not account for the students who returned to district schools after using a scholarship the prior year, so the real impact would be smaller.
Other districts have been vocal about their budget difficulties, often attributing them solely to growing scholarship demand, such as Leon County Public Schools, which in 2024-25 lost 240 students from district-run schools (0.8% of enrollment), and Duval County Public Schools, which lost 1,237 students (1.2% of enrollment).
Statewide, 32,284 students left public schools in 2024-25 to use a scholarship. That is only 1.1% of all public-school students in Florida, and even that total includes those who previously attended charter schools, university-affiliated lab schools, virtual schools, and other public-school options.
Looking at district-run schools alone, just 24,874 new scholarship students left for scholarship programs in 2024-25. Another 5,507 came from charters, and 1,897 came from virtual schools. In fact, as a percentage of their total enrollment, charter schools lost more students to scholarship programs (1.4%) than district-run schools did (1%).
This means that the expanded scholarship program may be having a bigger impact on charter schools than districts. Charter schools, however, haven’t been as vocal about vouchers, and that is likely because charters continue to grow enrollment while district schools have started to shrink.
Enrollment declines in some districts have been real, even if the blame on scholarships is misplaced.
Declining enrollment is being driven by parent preferences – but also by shifting demographics and the ebb of the post-Covid population boom. Florida is one of the few states where overall K-12 population is expected to continue growing, but the growth will be uneven, and every school will have to compete for students.
Even as they face intense competition and demographic headwinds, Florida’s charter schools have kept growing. Some innovative district leaders have signaled a willingness to hear the demand signals from parents and create new solutions to meet their needs.
Understanding what parents seek in private and charter schools, and how new public-school models can better meet those demands, would be a good place for districts to start.
Pre-K and Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) have also been major feeders for Florida’s scholarship programs. In 2024-25, 53,825 new scholarship students came from pre-K — somewhere between one-third and nearly half of all VPK students statewide.
Public schools have limited Pre-K offerings. Statewide, there are less than one-third as many Pre-K students as kindergartners enrolled in public schools. Private schools, by contrast, have used it as a key pipeline to recruit future students.
Districts have other avenues to respond to changing parent demands. Since 2014, when the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) was introduced as the Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts, districts have been allowed to offer classes and services to scholarship students.
The passage of HB1 in 2023 transformed every state scholarship into an education savings account. K-12 families now have more flexibility to use scholarships for “a la carte learning,” in which they pick and choose from a variety of educational options. By offering part-time instruction, tutoring, therapy, and other services, districts can win back students and the associated funding. So far, 21 of Florida’s 67 districts have taken advantage of this opportunity, with 10 more in the pipeline.
Florida’s enrollment shifts are real, but data shows the “voucher drain” narrative overstates the impact. The real challenge for districts is not money being “siphoned;” it is families choosing other options. Districts that adapt and compete for students will keep both enrollment and funding – leaving students, families and taxpayers better off.
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Gedontae “Duke” Rich never considered himself Ivy League material until, as a high school junior, he was approached by a football coach from Princeton University who offered a scholarship.
Not long after, he received a similar offer from a football coach at Cornell University.
“The college scholarship part, I could probably see myself doing that,” Duke said. “But an Ivy League school? That wasn't even a thought. I didn't know I was capable of that until I got the offers.”
What to do? Princeton or Cornell?
“I told him there was no wrong decision,” said Chris Harvey, the football coach at Clearwater Central Catholic High School (CCC).
Duke helped his teammates add the last three seasons to the championship door inside CCC's football field house.
Duke, a standout safety who played four years of varsity football at CCC, picked Cornell, an Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York.
“It’s a chill atmosphere,” he said. “It’s an Ivy League degree, but everyone is not there to be a rocket scientist.”
Duke graduated in May from CCC, having attended the college-preparatory high school with the help of a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, managed by Step Up For Students.
“You don't really see too many young Black men from where I'm from and where we grew up that are able to keep focused, keep their grades up, and go to an Ivy League school,” said Duke’s father, Gedontae Rich. “That speaks volumes.”
***
Duke grew up in St. Petersburg, about 30 minutes south of CCC. He’s been called Duke his whole life – “I was always calling him ‘Duke’ since he was little, crawling around, and it just stuck,” Gedontae said – and he attended CCC for what seems like that long.
Duke and his cousin, Jershaun Newton, have been fixtures at CCC football practices and games since they were 8. That’s when the first two of the five Newton brothers, who played football at CCC, began attending the school. Duke and Jershaun were everywhere, acting as ballboys and waterboys. As they grew older, they found their way into the weight room and the practice field.
Duke played four years of varsity football for CCC, the last three as a starter. (Photo courtesy of Grace Gould.)
So, there was never a question in Duke’s mind about where he would attend high school. He was going to CCC to play football and earn a college football scholarship just like his cousins. Jershaun, who also graduated this spring, will continue his career at the University of Illinois.
The education choice scholarship made that possible.
“The scholarship was a great help to us. It helped us out tremendously,” Gedontae said. “I believe if you apply yourself, CCC, it can definitely get you somewhere where you want to be. If you're a hard worker and want to do something in life, CCC will definitely help you get there.”
Coach Harvey has a saying: Four will get you 40, meaning four years of hard work and good grades in high school will lead to a college education that will lead to a successful life.
Duke’s hard work on the field helped him become a mainstay on a team that reached the state championship game during each of his last three seasons.
An honors student through elementary and middle school, Duke put forth the same effort in the classroom.
“I worked super hard, I was super strict my freshman year, and I started with a 4.3 GPA,” he said. “I already set a precedent and a standard, so why not keep going?”
Dr. Roshni Verghese teaches English at CCC and had Duke in her class during three of his four years.
“He was the first one to finish class work. If I assigned homework, he did it to the best of his ability; he didn’t just phone it in,” she said. “He truly enjoys having goals and fulfilling them. He doesn't like doing things halfheartedly. So, all these qualities, the fact that he is hard working, the fact that he knows he can challenge himself, and he enjoys the thrill of seeing that to the end, I think all those things make him a great student.”
It takes all of those qualities to reach an Ivy League school. And it takes great support from home.
“We pushed hard every day. I pushed him. My mom pushed him,” said Gedontae, who supervises asphalt and concrete crews for the City of St. Petersburg. “From day one, when he was little, we always said, ‘You've got to work hard.’ He sees me get up and go to work every day, working hard. I let him know every time, life ain't easy. There won’t be any handouts. So, you've got to get up and work for whatever you want.”
***
Dr. Verghese said Duke moved easily between his two worlds of athletics and academics.
“Being in this position of someone who is both great on the field and in class, he ended up being a role model for a lot of his classmates who may not have been able to balance both the same way, and they do look up to him,” she said. “They do respect him.
“I don't think there's a single student at our school who doesn't know who Duke Rich is. He’s done it all, the trifecta. He's popular, he's great at sports, great at academics.”
“Duke's a chameleon. He can fit in in a bunch of different places,” Coach Harvey said. “He's a great football player. He plays the game the way it was intended to be played, very physical and fast, and at the same time, he has the ability to flip that switch and go into a classroom and be as successful as he's been.”
Duke said CCC’s culture played a role in that. No matter where he roamed – the football field, the classroom – he was surrounded by hardworking, motivated classmates.
“Nothing is given. It's all deserved,” he said. “Like everybody here has something they deserve because they put in the work. That’s the CCC community. We’re hard workers.”
Duke will play his home games at Cornell's historic Schoellkopf Field. (Photo courtesy of Cornell University.)
Duke chose Cornell because he found the culture there similar to CCC’s. He connected quickly with the coaching staff. He found the students he met on his recruiting trip to be encouraging, not intimidating. Ithaca is a small town that offers very little in terms of distractions.
“I chose that school because I can stay focused,” he said. “It’s an old town. Everyone is calm.”
Duke plans to study environmental sustainability science so he can pursue a career that involves climate and climate change.
“I’m always interested in the health of the world,” he said. “During freshman year, I realized climate change is the main reason why everything is happening, and then when I decided to major in environmental sustainability science, I knew I’d have the route to fix that type of thing.”
A scholarship, an Ivy League degree, and a desire to save the world. That’s Duke’s four for 40.
“I knew that he had what it took, and it’s nice to see him step into the bigger world,” Dr. Verghese said. “He’s ready for the bigger world. As a teacher, it’s exciting to see how his potential will grow.”
Last week, I had the opportunity to make a presentation about how lawmakers can support teachers who want to start their own schools. The four key features:
2. Formula funding/demand-driven funding: Whoever applies for a choice program should receive funding if eligible.
3. Avoidance of anti-competitive accreditation requirements: Don’t ask your startup schools to operate without funding from the choice program while incumbent/accredited schools receive choice funding.
4. Exempt private schools from municipal zoning: Old hat for charter schools, needed for private schools as well.
Florida is the only state your humble author is aware of that has taken all four of these steps. This makes Ron Matus’ new study "Going With Plan B” all the more important. Despite a statewide increase of 705 private schools, 41,000 Florida families applied for, received, and ultimately did not use an ESA. Matus surveyed thousands of these parents to learn why.
The lack of school space was the No. 1 reason Florida families found themselves as non-participants. Reasons two and three were related to costs, which can also be thought of as a supply issue.
The “Going with Plan B” study is very interesting and should be studied carefully by Florida policymakers. For now, however, let us focus on the other states with choice programs that lack the four critical elements listed above. If FLORIDA has a supply issue, your state, sitting at one out of four, or two out of four, should take note: It is likely to be even worse in a state near you.
By Ron Matus and Dava Cherry
Florida’s choice-driven education system is the most dynamic and diverse in America, but it’s facing new tests. This year, 41,000 Florida students were awarded school choice scholarships but never used them.
We wanted to know why, so we surveyed their parents.
The 2,739 who responded had a lot to tell us. Not only about supply-side challenges, but about the extent to which families are migrating between different types of schools, and their expectations for finding just the right ones.
As education choice takes root across America, we thought other states could learn from these parents, which is why we boiled their responses down into a new report, “Going With Plan B.”
We saw three main takeaways:
A third of the respondents (34.7%) said there were no available seats at the school they wanted. This, even though the number of Florida private schools has grown 31% over the past 10 years. Meanwhile, a fifth of the respondents (19.7%) said the scholarship amount wasn’t enough to cover tuition and fees.
Even without scholarships, a third of the respondents (36.5%) switched school types (like going from a traditional public school to a charter school). And between their child’s prior school and the school they ended up in, more experienced a positive rather negative shift in satisfaction (20.4% to 10.5%). We didn’t see that coming.
Two thirds of the respondents said they’d apply for the scholarships again, including 63% of those who switched school types, and 55.5% of those who were satisfied after doing so.
Things got better, it seems, but not better enough.
Perhaps as choice has grown, so too have parents’ expectations.
See the full report here.
Dava Cherry is the former director of enterprise data and research at Step Up For Students, and a former public school teacher.
Recent Clearwater Central Catholic High School graduates (from left) Jan Mistak, Ian Galloway, Nancy Dolson, and Paige Daily each earned National Merit Scholarships.
CLEARWATER, Fla.– They are honor students and athletes.
Volunteers in the community and student ambassadors at school.
One is a champion sailor who has competed in the national and international regattas in places like Canada, Argentina, and Poland.
One is a state champion cheerleader. There is an Eagle Scout who won a district championship in the high jump. There is a three-sport athlete who was voted homecoming king.
They have grade point averages north of 4.0 and PSAT and SAT scores that are the envy of nearly every high school student who has taken the tests.
They are four students who graduated this spring from Clearwater Central Catholic High School, united by the same unwavering drive to excel academically.
And that drive led them to this: a National Merit Scholarship.
Paige Daily, Nancy Dolson, Ian Galloway, and Jan Mistak are among the 6,870 winners nationwide out of the 50,000 students from the Class of 2025 who qualified. The scholarship covers nearly all college costs. All four attended CCC with the help of a private school scholarship managed by Step Up For Students.
“Having college paid for is huge, and the recognition is nice,” Paige said. “You work hard (academically), and it’s nice for people to appreciate that.”
Paige will attend Florida State University and major in finance.
Nancy, CCC’s valedictorian, was accepted to the University of Florida’s honors program and will major in construction management.
Ian is headed to Florida State, where he will major in biomedical engineering.
Jan (pronounced Yon) will major in physics and continue his sailing career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Since 2021, CCC has identified high-academic-achieving freshmen and, using the Ray Dass college-readiness program, guided them through the steps necessary to achieve a National Merit Scholarship. Ray Dass includes preparation for the PSATs and SATs with live, online tutoring.
CCC has had at least one National Merit Scholarship winner every year since then. It can add to that total next spring, since five members of the Class of 2026 are National Merit Qualifiers.
Meet the 2025 winners:
Paige Daily
Paige and her teammates on the cheerleading team raised a state championship banner after claiming the Class 1A title in Competitive Cheer in January. Banners are a family thing. Her dad, Chris, and his brothers won state soccer titles for CCC.
“It was cool to see her put a banner up in the gym with me and her uncles,” Chris said.
Paige was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She and her parents moved back to Pinellas County when she was in the eighth grade. She found herself surrounded by strangers during the start of her freshman year at CCC, but quickly set about changing that.
Paige played lacrosse as a freshman and joined the cheerleading team as a sophomore. She was a member of Peer Ministry; Water 4 Mercy, which raises funds to help bring sustainable water to rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa; and Morning Star Amigos, where she spent time with students at Morning Star Catholic School, which educates children with unique abilities in Pinellas Park.
“We appreciate them and recognize them,” Paige said.
She was also involved in the Fashion Upcycle Club, which collects and donates formal dresses to students in Pinellas County who can’t afford a dress to wear to their prom.
“When I came here, I really pushed myself to try a lot of new things, things I would never have done before, because I would be too afraid of failing, and I would rather just stay in my bubble than push myself,” Paige said. “But it just helped me be a lot more confident and want to try new things and experience new things, and that's kind of what high school is all about.”
Nancy Dolson
There’s nothing like a sibling rivalry to drive ambition, especially for the youngest in the family. Nancy’s older brother Richard was an Eagle Scout. Nancy became an Eagle Scout. Richard attends the University of Florida. Nancy was accepted into UF’s honors program and will attend the university on a National Merit Scholarship.
“Every time I do something, I try to surpass him a little bit,” Nancy said.
Nancy was one of the first girls to join the Boy Scouts when it became coed in 2019. She became the first female in her Boy Scout district to achieve Eagle Scout when she refurbished the outside entrance to the St. Vincent De Paul Community Kitchen in Clearwater. She built four earth boxes, repaired existing planters, and pressure-washed the area.
“It was pretty gloomy,” said Nancy, who helps serve breakfast there on Sunday mornings.
Nancy was captain of the cross-country team as a senior. She was the president of the Student Ambassador club and the student chaplain for Peer Ministry. She helped start CCC’s Math Club and was a member of the Model United Nations Club.
Nancy has served as a summer counselor at Boy Scouts camps across the country. She even participated in her Ray Dass classes while at camp in New Mexico.
“Nancy is a doer,” said her mom, Barbara. “She does great things every day that make me proud of her. I’m so thrilled to call her my daughter.”
Nancy will major in construction management but hasn’t decided on a career path.
“I have a lot of goals that aren't career-based,” she said. “I'm still trying to work out the career stuff.”
One of her goals is to hike the Appalachian Trail.
“That's a big one for me,” she said. “Probably after I graduate.”
Ian Galloway
Ian is the second National Merit Scholarship winner in the family. His sister, Taylor, who graduated from CCC in 2022, also earned one. Taylor recently completed her junior year at Florida and has applied to medical school.
“She’s on her way. She's crossing off goals, and she's doing very well,” Ian’s mom, Amanda Galloway said, “and I do think that she was a motivating factor for Ian to go after this scholarship.”
Ian’s father, Michael, is a pediatric oncologist, and Amanda is a radiation therapist.
“I come from a family that’s really, really interested in health sciences,” Ian said.
He will major in biomedical engineering with an eye on a career of “helping people from a different approach,” he said.
Ian was a member of the Model United Nations Club and Peer Ministry. He was a student ambassador and helped start the Marauders Meadow Club, a club designed to grow plants around campus.
He played basketball and soccer and ran cross country and track. He was the homecoming king as a senior. He wore a bald cap and performed a takeoff on the character “Eleven” from the Netflix series “Stranger Things” for the senior class movie during homecoming week.
“I was kind of a comic relief character,” Ian said. “I got to see myself look goofy on the big screen.”
“He was very good,” Nancy Dolson said.
The seniors won.
“He’s smart. He’s athletic. He fits into a lot of different places,” Amanda said. “He's kind of an oddball, but in a lot of good ways, so I'm excited to see where life takes him.”
Jan Mistak
Jan began sailing when he was 7 and started racing sailboats when he was 11. He’s raced in theYouth World Championship in Poland and Argentina. This summer, he will participate in the Youth World Championship in San Pedro, California.
“My dream was to combine competitive sailing with top-tier education focused on technology and science. I am thrilled to have made that dream a reality by being accepted to MIT and their varsity sailing team” he said.
Sailing in Poland represented a homecoming of sorts for Jan. His parents, Agnes and Gus, originally from Poland, have worked in real estate since early 2000.
“Hard work brought us to where we are today, and we wanted to model that for our children,” Agnes said.
When the children were young, they would go on family walks that took them past CCC. Gus and Agnes hoped that one day it would be possible for the kids to attend this school. They wanted the faith-based education and the high academics that CCC provides.
Maggie completed her freshman year at CCC, while Julia will be an eighth-grader at St. Paul Catholic School in St. Petersburg.
The honor of achieving the National Merit Finalist status definitely set a high standard for his sisters to follow.
“It's great to see that the hard work paid off for Jan, and he's an inspiration for his sisters,” Agnes said.
In addition to sailing internationally, Jan was busy during his four years at CCC.
At CCC he was a member of Water 4 Mercy, Catholic Relief Services, the Entrepreneurs Club, and Peer Ministry. He served as his homeroom representative for the student government, was a student ambassador, and competed in the newly created Math Competition club. He participated in various school-wide fundraisers.
Jan, like the others, earned a National Merit Scholarship by studying – he logged on to the Ray Dass classes wherever he was, even during his sailing travels. Yet, like the others, it wasn’t all just studying, studying, studying.
All four had a variety of interests and talents that they used to their fullest.
“Obviously, academics are important,” Chris Daily said. “But there's a lot more to it, which is great. It's the whole person that CCC looks at, which is really neat.”
For the first time in Florida’s history, more than half of all K-12 students are enrolled in an educational option of choice. During the 2023–24 school year, 1,794,697 students, out of the state’s approximately 3.5 million K-12 population, attended schools outside their zoned neighborhood assignment.
Since the 2008–09 school year, Step Up For Students, in collaboration with the Florida Department of Education, has tracked enrollment across a variety of choice programs. While methods and program structures have evolved, 2023–24 marks a milestone: more than 50% of Florida’s students are now learning in environments selected by their families.
The Changing Landscapes report draws from Florida Department of Education data and removes, where possible, duplicate counts to provide a clearer picture of school choice participation. For example, it adjusts for home education students supported by the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) and eliminates double-counted students in career and professional programs. It also excludes prekindergarten students in FES-UA and programs like Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK), as the report focuses solely on K–12 education.
While many families still choose their neighborhood public schools, Florida’s education system now offers a broad range of options to meet diverse student needs. Public school choice remains dominant, occupying four of the top five spots in overall enrollment. Charter schools are the most popular option, followed by district open enrollment programs, career and professional academies, and Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) programs for upperclassmen.
On the private side, the 2023–24 school year marked a historic shift: For the first time, a single scholarship program now serves more students than all private school families who pay tuition out of pocket.
In total, over 116,000 additional students enrolled in choice programs compared to the prior year. The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) saw the greatest growth, along with AICE and FES-UA. Altogether, scholarships for private and home education increased by approximately 142,000 students, while private-pay and non-scholarship home education enrollment declined, likely due to the expanded availability of financial aid.
Among public-school options, magnet and district choice programs saw slight declines, with 28,000 and 8,447 fewer students, respectively. Still, public-school choice remains strong: 1.1 million of Florida’s 2.9 million public school students (40%) are enrolled in a choice-based public option.
Altogether, nearly 1.8 million students attend a school chosen by their parents or guardians. This shift reflects a fundamental transformation in Florida’s educational landscape—one where families are increasingly empowered to find the best fit for their children.
But with so many students opting for alternatives to their zoned public schools, it raises an interesting question: What about those who stay? If families are surrounded by options and still choose their assigned public school, isn’t that a choice, too? In that light, Florida may already have a 100% choice system, because staying is just as much a decision as leaving.
Rather than a battle between public and private education, Florida is showing how both sectors can coexist and thrive, working together to provide high quality learning opportunities for all students. The future of education isn’t one-size-fits-all; it’s about ensuring every family has access to an option that fits their child’s unique needs. In Florida, that future is already here.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Zori Brown was in the sixth grade when she made a plan for her future that was concise and to the point:
“I don’t know of any sixth-graders who have a life plan,” said Zori’s mom, Endea Mathis.
Endea said she was raised in a home where education was stressed above all else, and she passed that on to her only child.
“It was taught to her at a young age that you're a student first. We pride ourselves on that,” Endea said. “But she took it to a whole other level.”
Six years later, the plan is still in play.
Zori, 17, is set to graduate in May near the top of her class from St. Thomas Aquinas High School (STA) in Fort Lauderdale. She will continue her education at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she received a volleyball scholarship. She will major in finance.
The end goal hasn’t changed – become a CFO, possibly on Wall Street.
“She’ll be something someday, that’s for sure,” Lisa Zielinski, STA’s volleyball coach, said.
Endea and Zori, after Zori received the Super Senior Award at the Rising Stars Awards event in February.
Ambitious goals like these and the means to reach them are what attracted Zori to STA. She attends the academically and athletically competitive private Catholic high school with the help of a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO). The scholarship is managed by Step Up For Students.
“If it wasn’t for Step Up, she wouldn’t be able to attend St. Thomas, her dream school, because I couldn’t afford it,” Endea said. “The scholarship has been tremendous for us.”
As a senior, Zori was team MVP, all-Broward County first team, and a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team. (Photo provided by Zori Brown)
Zori attended a charter school near her home in Pembroke Pines, which is a half hour south of STA. She enjoyed her time there and felt she was pushed academically. But for high school, she wanted something more.
Athletically, Zori joined one of the top volleyball programs in Florida. She finished her high school career as a captain of a team that won back-to-back state titles. As a senior, Zori was team MVP and first-team all-Broward County. She was also named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team.
In volleyball, college coaches recruit players from the AAU national circuit. Zori gained attention playing for the Wildfire Volleyball Academy’s national team, playing weekend tournaments in Atlanta, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, as well as Orlando and South Florida. Dartmouth coaches first approached her when she was in the ninth grade.
“Volleyball has impacted my life a lot,” Zori said. “It’s brought so much joy into my life, and I’m going to a great college through volleyball. I'm so grateful for it.”
Her academic life is equally important. She pushes herself just as hard in the classroom as she does on the volleyball court.
Athletically, Zori joined one of the top volleyball programs in Florida. She finished her high school career as a captain of a team that won back-to-back state titles. As a senior, Zori was team MVP and first-team all-Broward County. She was also named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team.
In volleyball, college coaches recruit players from the AAU national circuit. Zori gained attention playing for the Wildfire Volleyball Academy’s national team, playing weekend tournaments in Atlanta, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, as well as Orlando and South Florida. Dartmouth coaches first approached her when she was in the ninth grade.
“Volleyball has impacted my life a lot,” Zori said. “It’s brought so much joy into my life, and I’m going to a great college through volleyball. I'm so grateful for it.”
Her academic life is equally important. She pushes herself just as hard in the classroom as she does on the volleyball court.
“I have to get a high mark, I just challenge myself,” she said. “There may be a class I don't really know much about, but in X amount of months, I'm going to walk out of here, and I'm going to know as much as I can.
I think what keeps me going is thinking about the future and how I want to be successful in life, and I feel by challenging myself academically, that's going to help me get there.”
Zori's play on the court, where she is an outside hitter, drew the attention of the coaches at the Ivy League universities Yale, Brown, and Princeton. She was also recruited by Georgetown University, Stony Brook University and Davidson College.
As a senior, Zori was team MVP, all-Broward County first team, and a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team. (Photo provided by Zori Brown)
As a senior, Zori was team MVP, all-Broward County first team, and a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team. (Photo provided by Zori Brown
In addition to her athletic prowess, Zori brings leadership and a high moral character to the team, which, Coach Zielinski said, enables her to be successful.
“Once in a while, you get a player who has it all,” Zielinski said. “I know the Dartmouth coaches are going to be happy to have her, because she’s going to contribute to that school and that program. She’ll make a difference. She’ll thrive in that academic setting.”
Endea, who is slowly changing her wardrobe from STA’s blue and gold to Dartmouth’s green, is not surprised her daughter is headed to an Ivy League school, though she was quick to add, “I brag all the time.”
“She’s always been confident, always been competitive,” Endea said. “She always wanted to do well, always wanted to be first in everything. That’s from her upbringing. I always pushed her to be the best she could be. She always wanted more out of life.”
Zori doesn’t feel she would be heading to an Ivy League college without the education she received at STA. The faculty helped her lift her academics to a higher level. That, combined with her competitive nature and her laser-like focus on her future, means she will trade sunny South Florida for some New England winters.
“I know this is really cliché, but you only live once,” Zori said. “I think about that all the time. You have to work hard in this life because you don’t get another one. You have to take advantage of the opportunities you have. The decisions you make now affect your future.”
