“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.” ~ Hans Christian Andersen
We are back at it! Only a couple weeks into the new school year and the easy rhythms of CRSM are back in swing. There is nothing better than having the school building full again with students and staff. The cafeteria and library are just a little brighter. The hallways are certainly louder. Everything feels fresh and better. The energy is palpable.
We started the year off with an all-school assembly that also marked the 20th anniversary of our school opening its doors to students back in 2004. A momentous occasion to be sure but it really was only a small supplement to the positive vibes being felt in the classrooms.
What drives the positivity of CRSM is simple. We all want to be here. Faculty can work anywhere – they really are that good – but choose to work at CRSM because of co-workers, students, and a supportive administration. Students don’t have to come here but their families make sacrifices so they can.
At CRSM, we care about each other; we look for and support the best in one another. Not in some grand or ostentatious way but in the little things. Helping keep the cafeteria clean, holding the door for a classmate, smiling and greeting a visitor, sharing a joke, helping with homework, telling someone they can do better because you believe in them, asking if someone is okay… these types of occurrences are frequent and widespread. The norm, not the exception. I like to say that at CRSM, we are living out an example of the way the world can be, not the way it is.
At assembly, our Principal shared two quotes from CRSM alumni highlighting that the cooperative spirit we nourish at CRSM has a lasting impact after students leave us. Mauricio is working full time at The Wraparound Center for Waukegan public schools. It is a one-stop location for students, families, and other residents to receive therapeutic support and access to services and resources from community agencies. He described his time with CRSM this way:
“I am forever thankful to be a proud CRSM alumnus. Thank you for all the opportunities that you have been planting and creating for students, long before they need them. That is truly God’s work. I would not be who and where I am without CRSM and its blessed staff who made sure I crossed the finish line and kept me hungry for more after.”
The other quote is from Mayra who currently works for Vital Voices in Washington, DC., a global partnership founded on the simple idea that nations and communities cannot move forward without women’s voices in leadership positions. She was interviewed recently on a podcast called, Empowering Women. At one point, she was asked about her formative high school years, and shared:
“I was already living in the US when I went to high school… I think over 90% [of us] were Latino…it was Catholic School, but I loved, loved my high school, it is the place where I learned and experienced my first community, and I learned what it means to be a member of a community, somewhere where everybody counts… what I am so thankful for that school it allowed me to dream, it allowed me to realize I could do more, that I could have an impact in my community, that I could pursue these paths that otherwise would not feel available to me… “
While we are back at it starting another school year here in Waukegan, it is also incredibly gratifying to know that our students are leaving transformed. And paying that experience forward in their lives and careers. ¡Viva, Cristo Rey!