Cristo Rey Network 60 Minutes Video - 2004
Providence Cristo Rey High School is one of 24 high schools in The Cristo
Rey Network which provide a quality,
Catholic, college preparatory education to young people who live in
urban communities with limited educational options. Today
we are educating 6,500 students, and will soon be reaching more than
10,000 young people, who otherwise would not have access to a quality,
college preparatory education. This past year, 100% of the schools’
senior class was accepted into college. Our mission is clear – college
success for Cristo Rey Network students.
Providence Cristo Rey High School Seven Cristo Rey schools celebrate first graduating classes this year
By
Catholic News Service 6/24/11
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Across the country this year seven Cristo Rey
schools celebrated their first graduating classes and at many of these
schools, the graduates were the first in their families planning to
attend college.
Jenifer Moreno, the salutatorian for the Don Bosco Cristo Rey High
School in Takoma Park, Md., told fellow graduates June 2 at the Basilica
of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, that
she was the first person from both sides of her family to graduate from
high school and go on to college.
"Back home in El Salvador, education is a precious gift, because so few
have the opportunity to achieve it," she said. Moreno, who plans to
attend West Virginia University this fall, said she was proud to be the
first graduate in her family and the one who "made the path easier for
my siblings."
Moreno thanked her parents for their many sacrifices and said she
thought the best way to repay them was by going to college and pursuing a
career in medicine.
"If I made it this far, why not go farther?" she said, noting that her dream is to become a transplant surgeon.
This sentiment was echoed by the first graduating class members at six
other Cristo Rey schools -- in Omaha, Neb.; Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.;
Indianapolis; Minneapolis; and Newark, N.J.
These schools are among the 24 Cristo Rey schools that follow the model
pioneered by Cristo Rey High School in Chicago, the Jesuit school that
opened in 1996 and allows students to pay for most of their education by
working five days a month in school-sponsored corporate internships
that give the students work experience.
Although the initial Cristo Rey schools were sponsored by Jesuits,
several religious orders are now committed to sponsoring them, providing
staff members and financial support. The schools are part of the Cristo
Rey Network formed in 2001 and which educates more than 6,500 students
nationwide.
Currently the network is paired with several Catholic colleges that
support students through scholarship programs, job sponsorship, and
pre-college summer enrichment programs.
The Cristo Rey Network received a 2011 Best Practices Award June 22 from
the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management during its
annual meeting in Washington.
Kerry Robinson, the group's executive director, presented the award to
Jesuit Father John Foley, the network's executive chair, and Robert
Birdsell, president and CEO of Cristo Rey Network.
Robinson called the schools "hopeful examples of what Catholic education
can achieve when people and institutions pull together, both
intellectually and financially, to support students and the communities
where they live." She praised the Cristo Rey Network for its "dedication
to support urban students who have limited access to adequate college
preparation."
The leadership group also gave a 2011 Best Practices Award to Frank
Butler, president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic
Activities, for his leadership and service to the church.
Another of the Cristo Rey schools celebrating its first graduating class
this year is in Indianapolis. The principal at Providence Cristo Rey
High School there said the school's priority was not just to make sure
students graduate from high school but "successfully complete college."
Providence Sister Jeanne Hagelskamp, the school's founding president and
now its principal, said it was "incredibly difficult" to say goodbye to
this year's graduates.
"I suppose it's like parents feel when their sons or daughters get
married. I feel like they are my children. They've been here since we
opened. They've seen us through our growing years and have grown with
us," she told The Criterion, newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese.
"I am so very proud of these young men and women. They have worked
exceedingly hard to accomplish what they set out to do," she added.
For many of these students, juggling jobs and school work has been challenging but also rewarding.
Nestor Ramirez, a member of the first graduating class of Cristo Rey
Jesuit High School in Minneapolis and the first member of his family
planning to attend college, said he received a lot of support and
encouragement at school and at the companies where he worked.
During the work-study program, he said he learned "how to handle
customers really well, how to start conversations and how to keep going
with conversations." He also learned a lot about computers, computer
programming, data entry, filing and answering phones.
He told The Catholic Sprit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and
Minneapolis, that his work experience made him realize that his primary
interest is in accounting, which he plans to study.
Students are not the only ones who say the school experience had an
impact on them. Faculty members also say they have grown through their
experience in the Cristo Rey environment.
Salesian Father Abraham Feliciano, the director of faith formation and
youth ministry at Takoma Park's Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School, said
he came to the school one year after his ordination and felt blessed to
accompany the students on their journey.
He told the Catholic Standard, Washington's archdiocesan newspaper, that
he hoped the school's pioneer graduates learned to "always do their
best, believe in God and themselves, and strive to make the world a
better place while they fulfill their dreams."
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Contributing to this story was Mark Zimmermann in Washington, Pat Norby in St. Paul and John Shaughnessy in Indianapolis.
Link to Catholic News Service Article