by admin | Mar 8, 2023 | Academic, School News
Congrats to Christina Dippold, CRSM counselor who was honored by Waukegan to College for her passion and commitment for helping first-generation students. The award was presented at the organization’s 2nd Annual Education Appreciation Event March 6 in Waukegan.
“We can always count on her to provide us with student transcripts, collaborate on course selection, and share information about students with one another in our ‘it takes a village’ approach to support our first-gen students,” said Laura Rios, Program Director of Waukegan to College.
Christina was honored along with James Gillespie, a 7th-grade science teacher at Abbott Middle School, and Amanda Patti, Waukegan Public Schools Area District Superintendent. All three received a special award for their close partnership with Waukegan to College over the past years.
“There have been countless classroom visits, scores of emails requesting information about students, or providing us with data and other information that help ensure we provide students at Waukegan to College with the best support possible,” said Rios.
Prior to joining Cristo Rey nine years ago, Christina worked at Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota, for a total of 15 years in education as a School Counselor. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Marquette University in Social Work and Psychology and her master’s degree from Loyola University Chicago in Counseling. She said her proudest moment is seeing her students cross the stage at graduation every year!
by admin | Mar 2, 2023 | President’s Pen
You could have heard a pin drop. The lights were off with only the gentle light from the north windows saturating the cafeteria. A guitar strummed its first note and then the choir began singing:
The Lord is my light, my light and salvation:
in God I trust, in God I trust.
The Lord is my light, my light and salvation:
in God I trust, in God I trust.
Over and over and over… mantra-like… the words washing over all three-hundred-and-something students, faculty, staff, and visitors. This was the beginning of our student-run Ash Wednesday prayer service.
Alternating songs and scripture readings, our observance followed the basic sequence of communal prayer begun in Taize, France in the 1940’s as a contemplative, calming response to the violent beginnings of WWII. Its songs are nearly hypnotic, inviting participants to focus on God’s presence.
After the first song ended, the students shared a scripture reading and then the next song began, this time in Spanish, repeating again and again:
Nada te turbe, nada te espante (Let nothing disturb you, nothing scare you)
Solo Dios basta (God alone is enough)
We were seated in a circle around a giant cross made of two lashed tree limbs laying on the floor. During the second song students could come to the cross, light a candle and say a silent prayer. Then, after another reading and third song, there was a period of silence.
Not a moment of silence but a long, sustained period of silence. Nearly ten minutes of silence! Stop what you are doing and try to sit silent and still for ten minutes. Most people would find it difficult, if not impossible. The pace of Taize prayer is very slow. I’m certain the timing of this silent part of the service coming only after several entrancing songs is intentional. We are gradually brought deeper into prayer so that when the silence comes, the community is ready for it.
It is difficult to describe just how profound this experience is. Can you imagine sitting with over three hundred teenagers in complete silence for so long? No fidgeting, no murmuring, just reverence. And in that reverence, we find a shared bond: together, present to one another, aware, peaceful, content, and drenched in silence. The world outside is speeding by. As Wordsworth wrote, “The world is too much with us; late and soon, /Getting and spending… We have given our hearts away…”. As a species, we seem drawn toward overstimulation like moths to a flame but, in this extended silence, we find something more, something missing, something we hardly knew we needed but realize then just how hungry we were for it: an opportunity to be. And in being, an opportunity to realize God’s presence in us and among us.
Brother Roger Schutz-Marsauche, who founded Taize, expressed it this way, “Right at the depth of the human condition, lies the longing for a presence, the silent desire for a communion. Let us never forget that this simple desire for God is already the beginning of faith… trusting in God is a very simple reality, so simple that everyone could receive it.”
Staying in that extended, shared silence, with our inner ups and downs, with our hurts and our fears, it felt like the entire room was somehow brimming with new life and new energy. We needed something and we received it. It’s hard to think of a better, more powerful way to begin the season of Lent. As the final song neared its end, students slowly stood and walked to their first period classes taking that sacred silence with them.
I hope, in the coming weeks, you, too will find a moment or more when you feel the world awash in grace as I did this past Wednesday. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
by admin | Feb 28, 2023 | Academic, School News
CRSM is proud to announce Kumkum Bonnerjee, CRSM physics teacher, has been awarded a prestigious teaching fellowship through the University of Illinois. Its mission is to provide access to high-quality, advanced physics instruction in high school, and to open pathways for students into engineering.
The announcement came last week when the Illinois Physics and Secondary Schools Partnership Program named its fourth cohort of teaching fellows. Funded by the National Science Foundation, IPASS brings together Illinois high school science teachers to participate in intensive professional development experiences structured around research-based, university-level instructional materials.
Kumkum was nominated by CRSM alum, José Anaya, who cited her strong drive to support students and improve physics instruction at the school.
A native of Calcutta, India, Kumkum has always been inspired by physics. She received her master’s in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, India. While raising her then grade-school-aged children, she went back to school and received her teaching certificate from DePaul University. She joined the CRSM science department in 2007.
“I’m very blessed to be where I am today, and the students inspire me so much,” says KumKum. “I’ve learned that students rise to your expectations, and that the only time you lose is when you give up.”
by admin | Feb 27, 2023 | Alumni Spotlight
Meet Ashley Fonseca, CRSM Class of ’22. At Augustana College in Rock Island, IL you will find her preparing for a career as a veterinarian, working out, or she could be found exploring new opportunities in the college’s crochet club and the LatinXUnidos club. She’s also an intern at a nearby animal clinic.
“I owe my confidence and quick adjustment to college to Cristo Rey, which really prepared me,” says Ashley. “I am surprised at my independence, but I was taught to pursue my own path and to overcome disappointments when they come my way. But I do talk to my mom every day.” Her dogs, Sparky and Snoopy are regulars on the FaceTime mom-daughter chats.”
Last year, Ashley was honored with the Spirit of St. Martin de Porres Award, given to the graduate who best exemplifies the CRSM mission academically and as a person for others. She is a College Bound Opportunities Scholar and was a regular volunteer at Feed My Starving Children, the Northern Illinois Food Bank pop-up distributions and Beacon Place and served as a senior class representative.
Recently, Ashley shared her “day in the life of a freshman” experience. Check out her Instagram Takeover on YouTube.
by admin | Feb 17, 2023 | Academic
The teen years are a time for young people to have a healthy start in life. Yet national statistics report a sharp increase in sadness in high school students, especially amongst teen girls.
At CRSM, students are learning “The Science of Happiness,” which models a Yale class that was created to redefine happiness and give students the tools to create protective relationships and redefine happiness. This six- week course aims to curb the teenage mental health crisis by bringing together the best insights from Dr. Laurie Santos’ popular Yale course “Psychology and the Good Life.” A recent survey found that 37% of teens say they have poor mental health. The goal: for students to feel better and build healthier habits.
Each Tuesday at the 11:40 a.m. lunch period CRSM, students (and some staff) grab their lunches and head to the science lab. There, counselor Christina Dippold is leading a six-week “crash course” designed to help students be happy in the moment and not just when they reach a goal or accomplishment.) With videos, handouts, and exercise prompts (and serving homemade chocolate chip cookies and Valentine’s Day candy) Christina is hoping to help students develop strategies about how to be happier, how to feel less stressed, and how to thrive in high school and beyond. There is also a remote option for students via this link.
“I love that this course provides the opportunity for students to hear lectures from a Yale professor and to learn about recent research in psychology,” said Christina. “Several videos focus specifically on the negative impact of phones and social media, and Dr. Santos offers specific strategies for monitoring how to use them in healthier ways. There are so many great take-aways for teens to use in their daily lives that can help improve mental health and overall wellness.”
According to new CDC data released earlier this month, nearly 3 in 5 (57%) U.S. teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021—double that of boys, representing a nearly 60% increase and the highest level reported over the past decade.
Christina explained that “our minds trick us about the things that make us happy, but many of these intuitions are ‘… not exactly right – or are deeply misguided’. That’s why we get it wrong. I know this stuff, but my instincts are totally wrong.”
“The course is designed to help students be happy now and not only when they reach a goal,” she said. “We think there are things that will make us so much happier, like getting cool stuff, going on trips or going to Woodfield Mall and buying the cutest shorts for $60, yet they don’t make us as happy as we expect.”
