Southern Jesuit Article Spring_2009

Education

Cristo Rey:

Houston’s Future at Work By Susan Branda Martin Fifty years after the founding of the first Jesuit school in the city of Houston, the Jesuits and their lay collaborators are poised to found another school in this city, targeting the poorest, most at-risk children and preparing them for college. Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School of Houston, the first co-educational school sponsored by the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province, will open its doors to 100 freshmen on August 10. This inaugural class of young men and women will participate in one of the most exciting educational

models in the country. It has been a long time in the making. Once the Jesuits committed to opening a Cristo Rey school in the New Orleans Province and settled on Houston as its location, the Houston advisory group was formed in 2006. The group conducted a feasibility study, first identifying neighborhoods with family incomes averaging under $35,500 and a high level of student and parent interest, as determined through more than 1,300 interviews with middle school students and their families. The study confirmed the need and the desire of the families for a college preparatory school.

History of Cristo Rey

Cristo Rey Jesuit in Houston and Holy Family Catholic High School in Birmingham are part of the Cristo Rey Network of schools, which has its genesis in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, a low-income area largely populated by Mexican immigrants. The Cristo Rey model, the brainchild of Fr. John Foley, S.J., and his Jesuit and lay colleagues, emerged more than a decade ago. Foley realized that the expense of a Jesuit college preparatory education was (and continues to be) prohibitive for economicallydisadvantaged families living in the Chicago barrio and other urban areas. Thinking creatively, Foley and his team subsequently developed and pioneered an economic and educational program that would be accessible to the poorest families in the city. The result was the innovative Corporate Intern Program, sometimes referred to as the Corporate WorkStudy Program. Turning to corporations around the city, the Cristo Rey staff asked them to provide paying, entry-level corporate jobs for the school’s students. The salaries would help pay for the cost of their schooling. The Corporate Work-Study Program allows students to earn approximately 70 percent of their tuition by working for corporations one day per week, with extended school 22 The Southern Jesuit Spring 2009

Next, the advisory committee began approaching companies throughout Houston, asking for their support. More than 30 companies signed letters of intent to provide jobs to the first class of students. The advisory committee also secured over $2 million in donations, grants and pledges, with nine major foundations committing financial support for the school. Cristo Rey Jesuit, located in southeast Houston, near Hobby Airport, is in the midst of a very busy start-up year. With the naming of the school’s founding president, Fr. Antonio (T.J.) Martinez, S.J., the plans for the school

days the other four. The students gain first-hand knowledge of the professional, business world while also attending a school which will provide them with the education and critical thinking skills needed to perform well in college and in a professional career. While the students benefit both financially and by garnering work experience, corporate sponsors also benefit by adding to their workforce a group of eager, enthusiastic students in entry-level positions at a reduced cost. In addition, they are helping to form the future corporate, civic and religious leadership of this country. There are currently 22 schools in the Cristo Rey Network with more than 1,250 Corporate Work-Study Sponsors employing more than 5,000 students. Over 99 percent of the students who graduate from Cristo Rey schools have been accepted into two- and four-year colleges, including Georgetown University, Loyola University and Brown University. For more information on the Cristo Rey Network, please visit http://www.cristoreynetwork.org/.

have been kicked into motion. Upon his arrival in Houston, Martinez, who holds a law degree from The University of Texas as well as a graduate degree in school leadership and administration from Harvard University, quickly went to work with the advisory board and negotiated the purchase of a former educational facility on a nearly nine-acre piece of property in one of the poorer neighborhoods in Houston. A board of trustees was named, and they have been meeting continually since December, approving the funding for moderate renovations of the purchased facility in order to provide a safe, competitive and supportive learning environment. Fretz Construction is generously managing these renovations on a pro bono basis. “Any president, young or old, experienced or new, would be envious of the experience and dedication my leadership team brings to our mission,” said Martinez of the team he has assembled, which includes business and community leaders from Houston and beyond. “I went after the best and, with God’s grace, I got it.” In March, the school unveiled its

logo and crest at a cocktail reception for donors, corporate sponsors and the many volunteers who have become involved over the past few months. BrandExtract LLC, a branding and marketing company in Houston, graciously devoted time to develop not only the school’s logo and crest, but the entire communications campaign. The Cristo Rey Jesuit team is also in the midst of planning a gathering for all Jesuiteducated alums living in the Houston area on April 14 in hopes of gathering more volunteer support for the school. “We have seen the impact that Cristo Rey has had in other communities and felt strongly that Houston would embrace the Cristo Rey model,” said Ron Martin, a member of the board of trustees. “It is humbling to know that Cristo Rey Jesuit Houston will forever change the lives of the 100 students who begin our inaugural class this fall and the many more who will follow.” Martinez’s primary vision of the school is to provide a rigorous, firstrate educational, moral, and corporate environment that allows the students to reimagine their futures as business, civic

Fr. T.J. Martinez, the senior administrative team, and Fretz Construction Company workers gather outside the new Cristo Rey Jesuit school. Photo by Mark Bazin.

Students at a Cristo Rey Network school prepare for class.

and religious leaders of Greater Houston and elsewhere. In a very real way, the students are our own “future at work.” “Many people ask, ‘Why would you at all be interested in being involved in the chaos of starting up a school— particularly during this time?’” said Martinez. “My grandfather came over from Mexico, became a citizen and had an opportunity to work his way through school. Because of this, he was able to send my dad to school and my dad sent me, without which I would never have been a Jesuit and now president of Cristo Rey Jesuit.” He added, “These kids are my grandfather all over again, making this mission not only one I believe in because I am a Jesuit priest, but one I believe in because it is my family’s story as well.” For more information about Cristo Rey Jesuit, visit www.cristoreyhouston. org. Susan Branda Martin is the director of communications and public relations for Cristo Rey Jesuit in Houston. The Southern Jesuit Spring 2009 23