From traveling the globe to achieving academic milestones ahead of schedule, Ada Rios’ journey has been full of excitement. Ada is a Cristo Rey St. Martin Alum from the class of 2020. After graduating from CRSM, Ada accepted a full-tuition scholarship to Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and began working right away as an intern for one of our long-term business partners, Abbvie. It was through this internship opportunity and with the skills she developed during her time at CRSM through the Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP), that Ada was able to get a job right out of college, (graduating a semester early), with AbbVie as an Analyst in the Pharmacovigilance & Patient Safety Epidemiology & R&D Quality Assurance department (or PSEQ).
Ada’s parents always pushed her to do the best she could academically. Coupled with her own internal drive to succeed, Ada was able to get what she refers to as “a quality education and a foot in the door through Cristo Rey St. Martin.” Ada is a first generation college student, and seeing the low college graduation rate in the surrounding Waukegan community, Ada knew she wanted to attend Cristo Rey to increase her accessibility to resources and chances of getting to and through college. As Ada’s family always reminded her, “donde hay querer hay poder,” or, “where there is a will there is a way.”
At Hope College Ada was able to study abroad twice! Ada first studied abroad in the Dominican Republic in the city of Santiago. Hope College provided the same scholarships that Ada was already getting on campus, so she figured “why not take the chance to study in a different country.” Then, in 2022, Ada landed another opportunity to study abroad in Madrid, Spain- something that stemmed from her desire to learn more about her mestiza heritage and culture.
In the future Ada aspires to attend law school and eventually become an AbbVie corporate lawyer. Best of luck, Ada! We have no doubt you can achieve whatever you put your mind to!