Cristo Rey College Prep Schools
As I entered retirement, my cousin Jim would offer a few soft comments like "I haven't seen you at church lately" and "What are you going to do with your retirement?" Fair questions and a bit unnerving. I hadn't thought much about what to do in retirement except to sit in my Bubba chair, watch the Cubs lose and drink scotch. Then Jim got a bit more direct and invited me up to visit St Martin DePorres – a Catholic college prep school for the disadvantaged in south Waukegan, IL. I said "OK" more to get Jim off my lazy back than anything else. Jim told me that St Martins, aka CRSM, funded itself by putting students out in the corporate workplace on an outsourcing basis. Good luck. You are putting poor, Spanish speaking high school kids out into the corporate workplace on a daily basis and asking the corporation to pay $12,000 for this nine-month service? But CRSM didn’t need good luck. This program was remarkably successful. The students had a 95% approval rating, and they learned what it was like in the totally unfamiliar business world environment. Then a wonderful thing happened: I got involved with Cristo Rey St Martins.
My association with CRSM was totally rewarding. I was an informal member of the funding group and was instrumental in bringing two companies on board. I mentored, taught classes, accompanied students on the buses to work, tried to contribute ideas to further CRSM ends, responded to requests for assistance and contributed money. I learned through actual participation and observation that any and all young minds will indeed respond well to a demanding and structured education. If you look at student performance and college acceptance as the product of an education business, then CRSM ranked equal or above Lake Forest high school – the high school home of my sons.
I was involved with Cristo Rey for many years. Back in the day it was St Martin de Porres in Waukegan, IL. It was the 2nd Cristo Rey school. At first I didn't believe that high school kids whose street language was Spanish and whose model was a street drug dealer could possibly benefit from a strict college prep high school. How wrong I was. By every measure the kids at St Martins outperformed or equaled the performance of the students at Lake Forest high school. Now there are around forty-two Cristo Rey schools around the country. Children are our most profound asset. Their minds and talents must not be wasted.