They come to school with financial challenges, personal safety issues and problems at home.

        But these urban students come to school anyway, and that, school officials say, is half the battle.

        For the other half, Corryville Catholic Elementary provides Choices for Children. Begun last year, the program attempts to ensure that many of the school's 200 students succeed through high school and beyond.

        Most of Corryville Catholic's students are poor. Eighty-five percent are African-American; 70 percent are from single-parent households.

        The program's key players include Sister Marie Smith, the school's principal; eighth-grade teacher Sister Mary Ann Zwijack; program director Dr. Joseph Speaks; and Karen McMichael, a social worker.

        Dr. Speaks helps students pick a high school, prepare for entrance exams, and fill out forms for financial aid. Individual and group mentoring sessions are a weekly routine.

        After one school year and half of another, the program is showing early success, said Sister Carol Diemunsch of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, which runs the school.

        Since Choices for Children began with the school's eighth-grade class, students' grades improved, absenteeism plunged and parents became more involved.

        All 14 members of last year's eighth-grade class went to high school.

        Thanks to the program's help in finding financing, all but two of the eighth-graders attended Catholic high schools. The program helped them find more than $27,000 in financial aid.

        Last summer, a social worker visited future students' homes to help families deal with impediments to learning.

        The program continues through grade school with weekly mentoring sessions and on-the-go college and career planning.

        School officials even fill out the various financial-assistance applications to help the eighth-graders get into Catholic high schools — and stay.

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