July President’s Pen with Preston Kendall

by | Jul 8, 2022 | President’s Pen

Summer slows most schools down to a near halt. Everything runs in a lower gear so people can catch their breath before the next school year begins. At Cristo Rey St. Martin, summer marks the straightaway where things shift into an even higher gear. As soon as one year ends, we are already knee deep in the next. Our incoming 9th grade class has been with us daily since the first week of June. Final exams for older students ended the week of Memorial Day and the following Monday the 2023 school year began. No time to rest on our laurels – there’s work to be done!

Sure, 2022 marked our third year in a row of having 100% of our seniors being accepted to at least one bachelors’ program… Yes, 90% of the class of 2022 who started with CRSM on the first day of 9th grade graduated with a CRSM diploma (only the second highest retention rate in CRSM history and the second highest in the history of the entire Cristo Rey Network of schools)… Of course, we ended the year with more students than ever before earning a 3.0 GPA or higher – 81% of the entire student body…. We had our first student accepted to Stanford and more students going to Washington University, Holy Cross, NYU, and Brown… But it’s a new year and 2023 is already asking, “what have you done for me lately?”

In addition to our 9th graders participating in Corporate Work Study job preparation training and the Academic Bridge program, regular summer school is in full swing. This year features a dual-credit Statistics class, meaning our students get high school credit from CRSM while simultaneously earning college credit for the course through Loyola University Chicago. We also have a Physical education class for rising sophomores so they can free up a period in the fall to take AP World History. How about that? Giving up part of your summer in order to set yourself up for a more rigorous course load in the first semester? With that kind of work ethic, you know our students are going places!

The gym alternates between voluntary soccer camp and volleyball camp for boys and girls and the fitness center is open every morning with a dozen or so students using it at a time. Looking at the wonderful new spaces available on our campus, one thing is certain: our students are making the most of the resources available to them.

CRSM is also leveraging its resources to benefit others. The school recently hosted a weeklong STEM-oriented IBIO camp for grade school and middle school girls using our science labs and the monthly food distribution events in our parking lot with the Northern Illinois Food Bank continue without a break.

Most people only hear about Waukegan on the news and the image is seldom good. Environmental issues, crime, and poverty monopolize headlines. It probably doesn’t help that we are the “county seat” and all high-profile criminal cases in the area are tried at the courthouse here. But, if you scratch beneath the surface, there is tremendous talent and potential here. Young people just need opportunities and access to surprise everyone with what they are capable of accomplishing. Cristo Rey St. Martin is doing just that, and hope is palpable!

Come visit CRSM anytime and you will witness a place abuzz with intentional, hopeful activity – figuratively and literally. Figuratively in the sense of all that is going on, even in the summer. Literally because I forgot to mention that our Environmental Club has two beehives up and running in the pollinator garden behind our school. Did you know each hive holds 10,000 bees? students are coming in regularly, donning the apiary suits and bring the smoke, to check on them throughout the summer.

It’s amazing to watch the hustle and bustle, the comings and goings with so much purpose and productivity. Hard working individuals who, together, make up an incredible community doing something good for themselves and for the community beyond their walls.

Wait a minute… are we talking about CRSM students or bees? Come and find out!

 

Crossing Borders: Students Experience First-Hand the Plight of Asylum Seekers

Crossing Borders: Students Experience First-Hand the Plight of Asylum Seekers

by | Jul 7, 2022 | Campus Ministry

Last month, five recent CRSM grads traveled to the southernmost border section between Mexico and the United States to witness first-hand the plight of asylum seekers and to better understand the humanitarian crisis at the border.

The goal of the annual trip is for recent CRSM grads to immerse themselves in the issues at the border by meeting with people intimately involved: human rights activists, Christian leaders, border patrol. There was a lot of dialogue with people who are living the reality of the border crisis every day. Underneath the educational surface, the trip “created powerful spiritual lessons for the students and guides,” said Jim Dippold, Director of Campus Ministry.

Students from CRSM traveled June 9th through 13th with their peers from St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights to Nogales, Arizona and across the border of the wall, a 25-foot fortress that separates the U.S. and Mexico.

There, they walked the migrant trails in the desert, visited several asylum sanctuaries, and trekked along the wall. They also listened to stories about the violence along the border from faith leaders, founders of the sanctuary movement and volunteers.

“We saw how unsafe it is for immigrants,” says Maritza. “It hit close to home and was very emotional for me because my mother crossed there and was caught once but tried again and made it. She was 18, my age.”

“The students observed the trail of human suffering,” says Lori Felix, college counselor who accompanied the students on the trio. She says she and her peers couldn’t help but “be heartbroken” by the bewildering U.S immigration system that often diverts desperate seekers of asylum into detention lockups to fend for themselves.

“The desert was littered with shoes with no soles, discarded backpacks, clothing and water bottles, all the signs of people who were so close to their hopes and dreams but most likely didn’t make it,” says Felix.

At one of the sanctuaries, the students prayed with asylum seekers. Each student was given a rosary that belonged to a failed asylum seeker so they could pray for the immigrants seeking new lives. “You realize that the rosary you are holding held all the hopes and dreams of someone,” says Charlize.

All the students on the trip said they plan to find ways in college to advocate for better treatment of asylum-seekers and a broader understanding of what seeking asylum is all about. They also would like to inspire people young and old to advocate for changes to our immigration system.

One of the key learnings, says Daisy, was that people seeking asylum are not here “illegally,” but are following U.S. laws established decades ago to protect people fleeing violence in their home countries.

“I know that I will look for opportunities in college to create more awareness of the immigrant crisis,” says Daisy.

First CRSM Alumna Elected to School’s Board of Trustees

First CRSM Alumna Elected to School’s Board of Trustees

by | Jul 7, 2022 | Alumni Spotlight

Since her freshman year at Cristo Rey St. Martin 16 years ago, Esmeralda “Esme” Silva has been determined to be of service to others. Dedicated to paying her life forward and amplify the voices of victims of violence, the 30-year-old works to end human trafficking in several Wisconsin counties. A Class of ’10 grad, she also is the first CRSM alumna to be named to the Board of Trustees.

“I am extremely honored to be seated at the table with leaders who will make such a difference in the lives of students like I once was,” says Esme, a community resource specialist for Children’s Hospital in Wisconsin. “As a student, I didn’t really realize that there was such a dedicated group of people who cared so deeply about us and worked so hard to make the school successful.”

She says her compassion and passion for helping others was born in the hallways of CRSM, where she was the first person in her family to attend high school: “I learned to become dedicated, goal orientated and have a positive work ethic. Now, I feel my life is coming full-circle. I have a rewarding career that lets me help others, but now I get to really make a difference in the lives of students who remind me of where I came from. I hope to inspire where they can go.“

Esme’s career path has melded her interests in criminal justice and social services. Her experience includes working in victim advocacy, domestic violence, sexual assault services, and child abuse and neglect. She’s determined to grow as an advocate for victims in the legal, public policy and government systems.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University in 2014 and a master’s degree from University of Illinois at Chicago in 2017. Prior to the Children’s Hospital, Esme was a crisis counselor for A Safe Place in Zion.

Esme is married to her CRSM high school sweetheart, Jose Nunez, Class of ’11.

“Our foundation and the values and friendships we made at Cristo Rey helped form both of our passion to give back to the community,” says Esme.

 

Summer Reads: Principal Mike Odiotti’s Top Picks

Summer Reads: Principal Mike Odiotti’s Top Picks

by | Jul 7, 2022 | Academic

Grab a book and your beach bag! Principal Mike Odiotti’s top summer reads!

For the fourth year in a row, “Dr. O” is sharing his favorite books of the summer (thus far). “Read, read, and read” is the mantra he’s always sharing with students, staff, and faculty “both for school and for your own enrichment and growth.” Here he shares his first five page turners. Stay tuned for more.

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

On one hand, this is a simple, magical story of a boy stranded on a boat after a shipwreck with a Tiger, a zebra, a hyena, and an orangutan. On the other hand, the story is much more than the boy’s tale of his adventures at sea after the shipwreck and raises questions of truth, spirituality, and our role in the world. The author writes, “The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?”

2. Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

This dystopian sci-fi novel by Native writer from the Metis Nation of Ontario explores themes of humans’ relationship with nature, trauma, family, loss, the power of language, climate crisis and dreams. She writes, “And I understood that as long as there are dreamers left, there will never be want for a dream. And I understood just what we would do for each other, just what we would do for the ebb and pull of the dream, the bigger dream that held us all. Anything. Everything.”

3. The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett

This novel explores the stories of two sisters, identical twins. One sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other sister secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the reasons people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

4. Teacher Toolkit Guide to Memory by Ross McGill

The Teacher Toolkit Guide to Memory provides clear, visual explanations of how memory works, including short-term and long-term memory, working memory, semantic memory, and episodic memory. Ross presents a wealth of original ideas for incorporating this theory into day-to-day classroom practice, with proven methods for aiding knowledge retention and testing recall, to boost learning, support revision and motivate pupils.

5. One Good Question: How Countries Prepare Youth to Lead by Rhonda Broussard

Rhonda Broussard – an expert in pedagogy, international education, and racial equity – uses conversations with education leaders from eleven countries to try to answer her one good question. A question that she couldn’t answer on her own, a question that could inspire different truths based on context, a question that could bring clarity in complexity. This book provides ample fodder for how you might define your own one good question. What Broussard finds along the way is even more valuable: these conversations led to more provocations than answers. This book contemplates questions like Who should really go to college? What voice should parents have in their children’s education? How is the economy limiting education access worldwide? One Good Question gives new ways of thinking about the education problems we face today and how they connect us across the globe.

 

Girl Power! STEM Summer Camp at CRSM

Girl Power! STEM Summer Camp at CRSM

by | Jul 7, 2022 | Academic

It’s a growing trend: Female participation in STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and computer coding), is becoming increasingly popular as an exciting, interactive path for girls who are eyeing science as a career path at an early age.

Decked out in pink T-shirts, 100 girl’s 3rd through 8th grade, attended the five-day summer camp. This year’s theme, “New Frontiers in Space was run by The Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization (iBIO) and was held at CRSM. The goal: to increase positive feelings for STEM activities, inspire interest in pursuing STEM careers, and seek strong support from their families.

“The idea is to motivate the next generation and help restore America’s leadership in technology education,” said iBIO Senior Vice President Ann Vogel. CRSM Corporate Work Study program partner, Abbott was the lead sponsor for the event. Twenty-five STEM career employees from Abbott, Horizon, and the Steans Family Foundation, along with students and area teachers (some from CRSM!), volunteered to facilitate the week-long camp. CRSM Junior Haylie G. also volunteered, sharing how she had attended the 2019 camp, which inspired her to apply to and now attend CRSM.

“We are excited to bring real-world connections to the girls at this camp, which really sets it apart from other summer activities,” said Ann Vogel. “We are also thrilled to be back in-person at Cristo Rey this summer! Providing the opportunity for girls to learn together and from one another, while experimenting and using the engineering design cycle to creatively solve problems, is a key part of our camp.”

This year’s exploration centered around the habitation of a new planet by humans. For humans to be able to live in this new space, they will need to find ways to meet requirements for survival. Topics included soil chemistry and discovering existing life, engineering challenges involved in securing and transporting water for the new planet, using remote sensing to map the landscape of the planet, and building a paper model of “living” and “research” spaces, and generating electricity from wind.

On Friday, June 24, the final day of camp, iBIO welcomed participants’ families to join them for a Family Day and STEM Careers Event.

Preston Kendall, president of CRSM, said how proud he is that the school can host events like iBIO in our building. “ Doing good for others always pays dividends – it’s not why we do it, but I look at it as confirmation we are doing the right thing for the community. Like the Beatles say, “And in the end, the love you get is equal to the love you give.

The summer camp was featured in the Lake County Partners newsletter. Read more here.