by Miranda Eby | Dec 6, 2024 | Academic, School News
With 1,034 applications submitted to colleges across the country, our seniors anxiously await their results. At this time over 60 seniors, close to 60% of the class, have reported acceptances into 4-year colleges. Just a few of the schools CRSM students are hoping to attend include Northwestern, Providence and Stanford.
Our students couldn’t have done it without the dedication of our two college counselors, Ana Aguilar and Sharon Holdvogt, and the generous team of college counseling volunteers that helped with application submission, FAFSA, and writing personal statements.
Stay tuned for acceptance announcements this Spring! College decision day is May 1st, 2025, and it should be an exciting one again this year!
by Miranda Eby | Nov 25, 2024 | In The News
Cristo Rey Network Schools (including CRSM) have been recognized in this New York Times article as an organization to donate to this Holiday season. Click here to read the article.
by Miranda Eby | Nov 14, 2024 | In The News
Click Here to read the Chicago Catholic news article written about our solar panel initiative from earlier this year.
by Miranda Eby | Nov 6, 2024 | President’s Pen
If there were ever a month in the calendar that belonged to Cristo Rey St. Martin, it would be November. It literally and figuratively has our name written all over it! The month starts off with All Saints Day on the 1st, Dia de Los Muertos on the 1st and 2nd, the Feast of St. Martin de Porres on November 3, and the Feast of Christ the King (Cristo Rey) is the last Sunday of November.
We had a wonderful mass on November 1st celebrated by an old friend of CRSM, Fr. Dan Hartnett, SJ. Fr. Dan was pastor of the local Waukegan parish, Most Blessed Trinity, in the early days of our school. Prior to that, he worked in the Jesuit missions in Peru. I shared with the students that Fr. Dan literally walked in the footsteps of St. Martin de Porres because Martin lived and worked in Lima his entire life.
Before mass, I also shared with the students just why November is so important to CRSM. The image of Christ the King celebrates a king far beyond human imagination. That’s who we are named after and that is who calls us to be different and to bring positive change to our world. A king who comes to serve, not be served; a king who wields absolute power by choosing to be absolutely vulnerable; a king who puts the last, first; and who honors the humble over the proud. A king who also says the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” And what are the ways we can love?
That’s where all the saints, our loved ones who came before us, and St. Martin himself come in.
The lives of the saints are incredible models, showing us how to love God and love our neighbor. But, sometimes, it’s difficult to imagine our lives could ever rise to their level. We imagine nearly perfect people in the far-off past, inured to temptation or thoughtlessness.
Dia de Los Muertos offers more accessible examples through the lives of family and friends who came before us, people we knew and loved… and who loved us. We directly experienced their examples of care and selflessness when they were alive. While their examples may not have been as grandiose as those of canonized saints, nonetheless, these people were saints for us. Ultimately, being a saint doesn’t require some grand accomplishment – small acts of kindness and sacrifice can actually change the world.
St. Martin’s own story is consistent with this idea. He humbly did menial tasks like sweeping and cleaning and tending to the sick, but he did them in his heart as a way to praise to God – modest acts of goodness toward others with no expectation of anything in return.
We love God by loving one another. Coming to realize that the saints, our own family members and friends who have come before us, and even St. Martin de Porres were human beings just like us with their own faults and imperfections also implies that we have the ability to be like them.
All of us have the capacity to be saints. We don’t have to be perfect. We just have to try. That’s something worth celebrating! And just why November belongs to CRSM. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
by Miranda Eby | Nov 6, 2024 | Academic, School News
Cristo Rey St. Martin (CRSM) students have participated in the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice (IFTJ) for 11 years now, and each year, the students tackle a different social justice topic through discussion, seminar, and prayer.
This year, the topic of discussion was “Steadfast Hope in Precarious Times.” The students who attended had the opportunity to meet and have meaningful discussions with other students from various Jesuit and Catholic high schools across the country. It was a 3-day conference full of collaboration- five ignition network speakers, three keynote speakers, and over 40 breakout sessions.
In total, four CRSM seniors and one junior attended the conference, along with Government Teacher Jon Taus. It was a rewarding weekend of reflection and advocacy for those involved. We are looking forward to seeing what IFTJ 2025 has for our students! For more information on the conference, click here.
