by admin | May 31, 2022 | Development
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker joined legislators, community leaders and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity at Cristo Rey St. Martin on May 9 to announce $30 million in funding for over a dozen projects that aim to reduce stormwater flooding in the county.
Specifically, the governor announced a multi-million dollar flood control project that has been earmarked on the property to the north and west of our campus, known as Dady Slough. Twenty-five acres will be returned to native plant species and become a wildlife preserve.
CRSM science classes and the Environmental Club plan on participating in the restoration and maintenance of this preserve.
Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) told those attending that flooding near Dady Slough in Park City has impacted 800 nearby families.
“Stormwater and flood management is a top priority in our region. That’s why I’ve helped fund three local stormwater management projects in Washington and why I’m proud to celebrate the success of the state in Rebuild Illinois, delivering $30 million in state funding for Lake County stormwater management alone,” Schneider said.
Funded by Rebuild Illinois and the American Rescue Plan Act through the FY22 state funding bill, work on 14 projects throughout Lake County is set to begin this year.
Pritzker said the critical projects aim to address stormwater runoff that causes flooding and can carry pollutants into waterways such as lakes, streams and wetlands.
“Lake County is renowned for its natural beauty – but the waterways that make this region such a great place to live require high quality, efficient infrastructure,” Pritzker said at the presentation.
Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart said the stormwater infrastructure projects will “have immediate positive impact that will last for decades.”
“All 14 of these projects are important, but the infrastructure improvements at Dady Slough will address flooding that devastated this area just a few short years ago. It is expected to benefit more than 800 properties in the Cities of Waukegan and Park City, bringing much-needed relief to disadvantaged residents in our county,” said Kurt Woolford, the executive director for the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission.
by admin | May 31, 2022 | CWSP
Forty local business professionals spent the evening of May 17th at CRSM discussing and demonstrating their career journeys with 100 sophomores and seniors. The goal was to help students explore future careers and prepare to seize tomorrow’s opportunities.
From architecture, animal sciences and the environment, to engineering, arts, communications and business management, along with education, finance, health sciences and sales, the volunteers were board members, business partners and school partners such as our caterer. Some were school volunteers, and many were partners from our Corporate Work Study program.
“The most important thing I learned is that every career has challenges, and you might have to deal with rejection … Sometimes you might fail but if you really love and want to do something, go for it! Many careers and jobs are competitive but if you have the work ethic and the determination you can do anything. It was also really interesting to hear how the volunteers got to where they are and what they did to get there.” – Selene, CRSM sophomore.
“It is important that students understand the connection between what they are learning in the classroom and through their work program with the ‘real world,” said Lori Bell, Operations Lead Coordinator for the CWSP who organized the event. The Career Exploration event was intended to help students develop a sense of career awareness and how all jobs help a community.
The evening’s exploration, spread over a variety of job-related experiences. Companies represented included: Abbott, AbbVie, Advanced Group, Advocate Condell Medical Center, AIG, A Safe Place, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Catholic Charities, College of Lake County, Cristo Rey High School in Chicago, Fragomen, Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy LLC, Hollister Inc., J & L Catering, Latham & Watkins LLP, Norstan Inc., Northshore University HealthSystem, Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, PADS Lake County, Union Tank Car Company, W.W. Grainger, the City of Waukegan and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.
by admin | May 1, 2022 | President’s Pen
Seeds are the ultimate metaphor for hope – young and full of potential – and a fitting symbol for our students. Our young people are our future. With proper care and nurturing, they will grow to their full potential, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes intentional, focused work, day-after-day, and year-after-year, for our students to bring their true talents to fruition. Especially in a community climate full of challenges.
It doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen alone. It is a team effort. We are all called to plant and till and reap and replant in our own way according to our unique gifts and talents.
Jesus tells us, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.” Part of the process of bringing in the crops includes reserving seeds for the next crop. It’s not a one-time event; it’s renewal – a growth cycle that transcends one person or one generation. Planting seeds, supporting our youth in their efforts to follow their passions and dreams, is about stewardship and mutuality, selflessness and generosity. It’s about love.
We invite you to join us in this worthy effort. What we do sets an example for the next generation. Planting seeds is hope in action; it’s betting on the future – believing that the best is yet to come – and knowing that our lives have been blessed by those who came before us and desiring to pass those blessings on to the next generation.
There is a famous prayer written by Ken Untener in memory of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Here are some excerpts:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete…
This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
We are only on this earth a short time, but our mortality offers us an invitation to do something, no matter how small, to make the world just a little better before we leave it. St. Paul insists, “Three things last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
If our students are seeds, our responsibility is to provide fertile soil and sunlight and water – access and opportunities that will create an ecosystem where they can grow and flourish with the hope that, when they develop their own potential, they will bear fruit and plant seeds for the next generation.
The single most effective way for a young person to find upward economic mobility is to stay in school, go to college, and find a career that matches their passions. At CRSM, this is what we are about: we prepare our students for the rigors of college and expose them to professional work environments not for the degree or the experiences in and of themselves, but for where those degrees and experiences will lead them – to greater career choices and, ultimately, social agency – toward a societal status where they can initiate positive change in our world… toward a place where they, too, can plant seeds and pay it forward again.
You help us continue our mission. By supporting our students, their families, and our community, you are planting seeds for success. You are sowing seeds of hope for brighter futures.
We recently held our 2022 Founders’ Dinner and, predictably, the theme was “Planting Seeds for Success.” Here is a link to the video we showed that evening. It really captures the spirit of our students who personify the mission of Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep. Thank you for all you do for CRSM. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
by admin | Apr 29, 2022 | Alumni Spotlight
Since his high school years at CRSM, Jonathan Catalan has aspired to reach out and give back to the others in Waukegan and neighboring communities.
“I really feel it is my responsibility to contribute to the people in my community,” says Catalan, a CRSM Class of ’14 grad. “It was a dream for myself and for my whole family to have me go as the first person to college and pursue a degree that will allow me to help others just like we have been helped.” His parents, both Mexican immigrants, have faced tough times. His mother has been on daily dialysis for years due to kidney failure, and his father works hard in the construction business to take care of him and his brother and sister. “I’ve always been a person who wants to help others who may be suffering.”
For the last four years, the Loras College graduate has been doing exactly that as a social worker for Mano a Mano in Round Lake Beach. Catalan has been providing crisis intervention, helping to navigate community services through the COVID-19 pandemic and advocating for the needs of immigrant families across Lake County.
This May Catalan will serve even more families through his new role in the Guardian ad Litem office of the Lake County Public Defenders in Waukegan. Specifically, he will serve as the “eyes and ears” for children who identify as being abused and neglected by conducting at-home interviews with the children and their families.
His high school years at CRSM propelled him to aspire to give back to other immigrants like his family and to create opportunities for them. “My family and I have been so blessed to receive so much support,” he says. At CRSM, he was drawn to the campus ministry program and says he was inspired and mentored by Jim Dippold, Director of Campus Ministry.
Catalan was awarded the Spirit of St. Martin de Porres Award for his regular volunteer efforts at Feed My Starving Children, Northern Illinois Food Bank and other work “being a person for others.” The award is presented to individuals who exemplify the spirit of St. Martin de Porres by embracing the St. Martin de Porres High School community and also embracing people in need in Lake County with a “profound love that comes from pure faith and humility of spirit.”
“In so many ways, Jonathan is an example of what we are about at CRSM, forming young men and women who are making a deep impact on the lives of others in our community and helping to build a better world,” says Dippold. “We’re so proud of the work he’s done at Mano a Mano and are excited for the work he’ll do at the Public Defender’s Office.”
When he’s not rolling up his sleeves to care for others, (and his two new kittens) Catalan is digging his hands into the garden of the new home he recently is very proud that he bought for himself.
“I love being able to plant vegetables and watch my tomatoes sprout on the vines,” he says. “I’m very lucky to have a job where I can do what I love, giving back to others and being part of the solution to make Waukegan and the area a better place. Mr. Dippold and CRSM really inspired that in me.”
by admin | Apr 3, 2022 | President’s Pen
This past October, the XQ Institute published an editorial entitled, “5 Ways to Support Student Mental Health” – you can find a copy on their website. Like our Cristo Rey Network of schools, XQ promotes their own educational model that rethinks the high school experience. They differ from Cristo Rey in that they focus on charter and public schools. XQ has 22 schools and school-within-a-school programs around the country, so they certainly have direct experience to back their assertions.
Mental health for students has been a top-of-mind topic this year as schools continue to adapt to the challenges brought by the ongoing pandemic, including much of the fallout from the last two years when students and teachers experienced extended periods of isolation, remote learning, disruption of their structured schedules, as well as the sometimes-overwhelming fear, uncertainty, anxiety, and stress we all have known.
XQ’s five strategies encouraged in their editorial to support student mental health are:
- Learn: Empower Students Through Transformative Learning Experiences
- Listen: Seek and Elevate Student Voice
- Create: Promote Healing Through the Arts
- Invest: Use Covid Funds to Support BIPOC students (Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color)
- Innovate: Adapt COVID Protocols to Support Mental Health
Regardless of the differences in our models and operations, it is amazing how closely their recommended steps resemble several initiatives undertaken at Cristo Rey St. Martin.
LEARN
CRSM worked diligently and creatively to keep students connected and learning throughout this pandemic. In March through May of 2020, CRSM (like much of the rest of the world) went completely virtual. Because our school had begun the practice of issuing every student his or her own Chromebook a few years earlier, we only had to make sure students had Wi-Fi access at home and we were fully operational. Student attendance during that remote time was still better than 90%. Summer school in 2020 was full-time in-person. Because of distancing requirements, the 2020-2021 school year shifted to a hybrid schedule where students could attend classes in-person twice a week. Since the beginning of summer school in 2001, CRSM has been running full-time in person. By maximizing in-person learning experiences, we maintained a strong sense of community and attachment, minimizing many of the pitfalls extended remote experiences produced.
Additionally, our Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) shifted its focus in early summer – from trying to contract paying jobs to simply ensuring that every student had a job. We prioritized our students’ in-person work experiences over the need for paying jobs. Obviously, that means we currently have many more students working at non-profit organizations than usual, which hurts CRSM financially, but students are interacting and contributing while in-person in professional environments and have been for the entire school year. The only students working remotely this year are being paid by their job partners. What program are you aware of that is a more “transformative learning experience” than the CWSP?
LISTEN
CRSM continues to monitor the social/emotional status of our community, being especially alert to changes in student behavior from prior to COVID until now – counselors reach out to students (electronically, by phone, and now face-to-face); teachers check-in with students at the beginning of their classes; campus ministry offers opportunities for reflection and prayer; teachers and staff visit informally with students during study halls, at lunch, and even afterschool. More teachers and staff are regularly eating lunch together with the students in our cafeteria than even before the pandemic. Our students are also looking out for one another – attuned and empathetic to struggling classmates, at times referring friends to counselors. The antidote for mental and emotional trauma is community and community is CRSM’s strength.
CREATE
Before COVID, CRSM began a fledgling fine arts program and, this school year, shifted it into a higher gear. An Introduction to Fine Arts elective is now offered as well as an Introduction to Music Theory. The Art Club meets during lunch/flex time and afterschool, and the number of participating students expanded dramatically. In the coming weeks CRSM will host both the Cristo Rey Network’s Annual Meeting and the first in-person Founders’ Dinner in three years. In anticipation of these events, our Arts Club transformed the school’s library space this week into a professional art gallery – an incredible display of student talent in the form of sketches, pastels, paintings, computer-generated graphics, photographs, origami sculptures, and poetry.
Arts offer students alternative forms of expression and intermittent escapes from stress and anxiety. Drawing, for example, requires complete focus – keeping stress or worry at bay. Participation in the arts at CRSM is expanding dramatically – literally! Our theater program performed four productions of “Bram Stroker’s Dracula” this weekend, a first for our new stage in the gym. Over 17% of the student body is involved in some way – acting, directing, lighting, sound, scenery, props, ushers, and concessions! Acting can be both an escape and a chance to discover more about oneself by assuming another personality – it can even promote empathy. Being part of the production is being on a team – working together as a cohesive unit to prepare and realize live performances. The Art Show and the play recognize extended efforts that foster community, encourage deeper expression, and improve mental health.
INVEST
CRSM accessed funding through the CARES Act and spent it on improving the building’s HVAC system by installing Ultraviolet air filters. Known to kill other viruses like the flu, we could only postulate they would be effective against COVID. It wasn’t until after our installation was already underway that a UK research team published research confirming Ultraviolet exposure also killed the Coronavirus. The extra funding also allowed CRSM to purchase rapid tests as soon as they became available, permitting daily testing of students and staff before entering our building. These actions helped create an environment supportive to safe in-person gatherings and gathering together allows us to do everything else.
Well before the pandemic, families from low-income communities were forced to endure limited access to quality education and healthcare and fewer options for stable employment. COVID only magnified and expanded these inequities; CRSM’s mission is to reduce and eliminate them. All our resources are devoted to this so, when additional pandemic funds became available, it only made sense to devote them to that same cause.
In the U.S., income functions as a surrogate demographic for race. When XQ suggests a focus on BIPOC students it is akin to CRSM’s mission to reserve our educational opportunity for low-income students.
INNOVATE
Cristo Rey began as an innovative approach to education that harnesses corporate America and private, Catholic education to create a team to plow through an unequal playing field. It continues to do so. We have proven our ability to innovate in the past, but we are more acutely aware than ever that cannot not rest on those laurels. The world is changing – adapting is the only way to survive and flourish. The challenges of this pandemic force us to continue to innovate everywhere and all the time… and we will do it – in community and with deep compassion.
