Nearly every Friday morning during the school year, we hold an all-school assembly. It is a chance to remind students of our mission and share some relevant research or data about college completion, grit, or the types of mindsets and behaviors that lead to success. We also include general announcements; and always celebrate instances of student success in the classroom, workplace, and community. This time of year, we especially celebrate college acceptances as they roll in. Occasionally, our Principal will bring in alumni to speak about their college experience.
I’m always amazed at how attentive students are to alumni when they come back to visit. It is a reminder that the choice of messenger can often be even more important than the message itself. Last Friday, two alums who are now very successful sophomores at the University of Illinois – Champaign shared what they have learned so far about being in college. Their words of advice were simple and direct but also insightful. Much of what they told the students was consistent with what we, as the faculty and administration, tell them routinely. However, coming from two young people who only a year and a half ago were sitting in assembly as CRSM students, their words carried much more weight with our student audience. They were much more relatable, and students could see themselves more easily in these two role models than they might in some old guy like me telling them the same things.
They offered three recommendations to students about college:
- Do your homework. Manage your time appropriately and remember that reading and school work outside of class is easily just as important as anything you do in class.
- Get to know your professors. Their job isn’t to take care of you or remind you of your responsibilities. It’s not that they don’t care, they just have so many students and a job to do that they don’t reach out to you; you must reach out to them.
- Make friends. Friends support each other and can help you manage the stress of college. Also, there is so much to learn from other people who are different from you – maybe as much as you learn from your classes.
Pretty amazing counsel from students not quite halfway through their own college experience.
As I was listening to them impart this wisdom, I reflected on just how important community is to finding success. None of us can really find significant success without help and support from others. It is not just a matter of individual achievement but of being part of a communal journey. We learn and become better by sharing successes and failures so that the community gains a collective wisdom and sense of care.
A community is a family that believes; it is a group where each member accepts and feels strengthened by the others. In moments of weakness, we help one another and challenge one another to be our best. We share what light we have found as an example for others.
“Our school exists to promote the long-term flourishing of our students. We aim for every graduate to be accepted to, enrolled in, and complete a best-fit post-secondary experience that will propel our students toward a fulfilled life and allow them to use their God-given talents to make our world a better place.” Our Principal, Mike Odiotti calls these statements the “Why” behind our mission at CRSM.
Culture more than anything else determines the success of an organization. Culture builds community through accompaniment and encounter. But building and maintaining a healthy culture requires deliberate and intentional attention. One of the advantages of being a faith-based community is that we rally around something bigger than all of us and, regardless of our individual religious traditions, we have a shared belief about what matters.
What really matters?
Love. Appreciating and respecting others. Connectedness. And… doing something about that connectedness – seeking justice and working to change the world.
We are invited individually and collectively to be co-creators with God in making this world a better place. Seeing our students flourish and give back to their community is a kind of confirmation that we are on the right track and maybe, just maybe, our mission is consistent with what God desires of us. That sense of hopefulness is alive and well at CRSM.
¡Viva Cristo Rey!