by admin | Nov 1, 2022 | President’s Pen
Email is both the bane and the salve of my existence as president of CRSM. I was travelling last week and, despite using most free moments to weed through the growing list, there are still, at this moment, 313 unread messages in my Inbox. Granted, most are frivolous ads from sites from which I have yet to unsubscribe, or they are blasts from good organizations I intentionally subscribe to like The Chronicle of Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Crain’s Chicago Business, or Independent School Management. There are also regular school-wide emails to faculty and staff about the day-to-day running of the school, such as the revised schedule for November 3 when we will celebrate the feast of St. Martin de Porres with mass at 8:00am.
As much as I want to take a broad-brush approach and delete away anything not individually addressed to me, I find that some general emails can, on occasion, offer important and celebratory news. This morning included one such example. Our Dean of Students sent out the most recent ineligibility list comprised of all students currently earning less than a 2.0 grade point average. If you are under a. 2.0, we withhold your ability to participate in extracurricular activities until you correct the situation. This allows students to prioritize… put “first things first” because your grades really do matter.
A cumulative CRSM grade point average (GPA) is the most accurate indicator of how our students will perform in college. The correlation between GPA and college completion is significantly higher than the correlation between standardized test scores like the SAT or ACT and college completion. At CRSM, the correlation coefficient for GPA to college completion was 0.68 compared to the correlation coefficient for ACT to college completion of 0.3. The higher the coefficient, the stronger the relationship. So, your CRSM GPA is more than twice as accurate a predictor of college completion than your ACT score. Of all CRSM alumni, 82% of students with a GPA greater than 2.95 earned their bachelor’s degree. For students with less than a 2.95 GPA, only 23% get their diploma.
Back to the email. I opened the ineligibility list and there on the spreadsheet for 10/31/2022 were five names… FIVE! That’s only five out of 403 students! The numbers are all the more remarkable when you consider that CRSM does not filter its admissions requirements for academic performance. We do not administer an admissions exam. We do not have a junior high GPA minimum. And we do not have a standardized test score cut-off. Our first filter for admission is family income. The average CRSM family’s household income for this school year is $37,051 and the average family size is 4.7 individuals. Our second filter is to favor students who are the first generation in their family to attend college.
Only five ineligible students out of the entire student body are better than our best pre-pandemic numbers. What’s up with that?
The list’s shortness is testament to the collaborative efforts of three groups within CRSM: our faculty, the Student Support Team, and the Academic Assistance Team. It is a deliberate and intentional response to assist and promote student success. First, our faculty are incredibly professional and mission-driven experts in their craft. They work at CRSM because they love what they do and love who they do it with – their colleagues and students – and they are dedicated to continuous improvement.
Second, our Student Support Team consists of representatives from all aspects of student life at CRSM: counselors, the nurse, our Dean of Students, work-study representatives, teachers, and our assistant principal. They meet weekly to address individual students’ situations and develop customized scaffolding plans, taking into consideration the whole student or what the Jesuits coined as “cura personalis.”
Lastly, our Academic Assistance Team provides the academic encouragement and framework for students to develop lasting study skills that will serve them in high school and beyond. Students come to the AAP during their study hall period and after school to receive individual and small group support. Additionally, AAP teachers will attend class with students to accompany them in-the-moment and help then with notetaking and strengthen information processing.
At the end of the day, CRSM has 1.24% of students currently below a 2.0 GPA. That’s 98.76% ABOVE a 2.0! It is no accident, and it involves the concerted efforts of many different adults encouraging students to be their best, regardless of the challenges they face… or, more accurately, acknowledging those challenges and leveraging the students’ own proven resiliency to find success in school.
Miracles come in many forms, but you cannot discount the daily miracles resulting from a shared mission, hard work, and care for each individual student. Now, if only there were a miracle to get rid of too many emails!
by admin | Oct 31, 2022 | Academic
With 100 percent of CRSM seniors accepted to 4-year college and university bachelor’s programs the last three years in a row and on track for the fourth year, students also are leading the Cristo Rey Network in Advanced Placement courses. Of the 10 AP subject offerings, CRSM exceeded the Cristo Rey Network average in eight subjects.
“I truly believe that exposure to rigorous coursework, like our AP curriculum (and also in our non-AP coursework), is the most important element to prepare students for academic success once they leave us,” said Mike Odiotti, principal. “When compared to our national network, we are leaders in this domain.”
CRSM exceeded the Cristo Rey Network average in eight subjects. These benchmarks include:
- Ranked at the top of the Network in the AP Literature benchmark, with 36 students passing the course exam
- In eight out of 10 subjects, ranked in the top three of the number of students earning a three or higher on an exam.
- Ranked first in American Government, Physics and English Literature
- Ranked second in Calculus, English Language, Spanish and Spanish Literature
- Ranked third in World History
Odiotti pointed out that CRSM offers all students access to AP courses, compared to some other Network schools that are more restrictive in deciding who takes these accelerated courses.
“We do know that our students that go on to study STEM are much more successful in college if they accessed AP coursework while in high school, even if their performance on the exam was not high enough to earn them college credit,” said Odiotti.
by admin | Aug 23, 2022 | President’s Pen
Here. We. Go! The energy of the first day of school at CRSM defies description. There are only two days per year when we hold back students from their workday for a late start, bringing together the entire student body – the first day of school and our Senior Sendoff ceremony at the end of the year. Having 406 students plus 77 faculty and staff in the cafeteria eager to start the year is a joy to behold. At 106, this year’s freshmen class is one of the largest in school history.
As part of the assembly, all the adults in the building introduce themselves to the students. CRSM has attracted one of the finest teams of professionals I have ever known. It is truly inspiring to see each of them, one after another, address the students – you forget just how many exceptional educators are in our midst at CRSM. A news item the other day estimated that more than 282,000 teachers have left the profession since the beginning of the pandemic. CRSM is counting its blessings. All but three staff members are returning from last year – a remarkable sign of stability in a highly tumultuous time for education in general – and perhaps, a nod to the culture of both professionalism and care fostered at CRSM.
It is a grace being able to work with a group of people who gather together because of a shared belief in their students’ abilities. They believe their students have God-given talents that, when developed, can make the world a better place. They work at CRSM because they know that the economics of Waukegan and North Chicago, things completely out of the control of our students and families, are hindering the development of those talents. And a loss of those talents is a loss for our entire society.
Borrowing from a sermon a Jesuit friend of mine gave, I told the students on the first day of school that we hoped their time at CRSM would allow them to know three things: 1) that God loves them and God can be found in all things, especially in other people; 2) that God only wants us to return His love and the way we love God is by loving one another, by being “persons for others”; and 3) that we have a responsibility to develop our gifts and talents by committing to doing the best we can at what we undertake, but also to undertake things which help others and improve lives. In other words, to do well and to do good. The people working at CRSM know these things for themselves and they model them for the students in their daily interactions.
At the start of our faculty Professional Development programming last week and again on the first day with the students we began with a prayer called the Cristo Rey Credo. Credo comes straight from the Latin word, meaning “I believe.” My friend and colleague Fr. John Foley who started the Cristo Rey movement says he did not write the prayer as much as he compiled it from many other prayers. Nonetheless, it captures the spirit of why we work at CRSM and what we hope for. I cannot think of a better way to start the year than by stating what we truly believe. Here it is…
Cristo Rey Credo
We all have to be about changing the way things are. Our mission is to make the Kingdom of God concrete in the here and now, in other words, not merely to make things slightly better but to effect transformational change at every level. At Cristo Rey, no one has ever taught that we should be content with doing something small. Our world doesn’t need a touch-up; it needs total renewal!
We believe that God’s grace leads us not only to holiness, but also to greater intelligence, creativity, and resourcefulness in making the Kingdom come. And through the Spirit who lives in each one of us, we should expect, if we follow Jesus, to accomplish absolutely novel and startling things. The God we have studied in the Bible is one of boundless creativity, who wishes to communicate this same grace to each one of us. Made in His image, we are called to be co-creators of a totally new world. May we have faith in a dream so ambitious as to border on the delusional with a healthy disregard for conventional thinking. May our hope be so outrageously bold that we are afraid people will laugh at us if they knew what we hoped for! May our love lead us to fly in the face of human logic and make us instruments in helping our King establish His reign, to transform all things, to bring true and lasting happiness to our community and the\ world. The plan our King always said he would set in motion is indeed moving forward in the Cristo Rey Network. This movement is the work of our King, taking away the sins of frustrated potential, lack of opportunity, and paralyzing poverty. Our world is awash in grace. Grace makes us excited about the future. The Kingdom is coming and we are an essential part of that dream!
¡Viva Cristo Rey!
by admin | Aug 22, 2022 | Academic
Many CRSM teachers are returning to the classroom this week with a renewed passion for literature, science, leadership, social studies, and a variety of new AP exam testing expertise after attending teacher institutes and professional development programs across the country.
From Salt Lake City and Boston to Indianapolis and Cincinnati, many CRSM teachers spent part of their summer immersed in academic excellence programs across the country.
“It felt like going away to summer camp,” says Elizabeth Partenach, English and Theater teacher, who with Rob Horcher, Math teacher, headed to Boston for a “Teacher-Leadership for Catholic Schools,” program held at Boston College. “It was very intensive, but really helps you come back with a lot of great ideas and commitment to try them.”
“CRSM teachers’ participation in these professional development programs does a lot to empower them and is instrumental in helping to create a successful school culture where everyone, including the teachers, teach and learn,” says Michael Odiotti, Principal.
Jon Taus Social Studies teacher, spent a week in Salt Lake City, at the same time AP teacher Rob Horcher also studied virtually in a second program along with Patricia Ferrer, Spanish teacher, who traveled to Cincinnati, to participate in AP Reading Programs. The reading programs are aimed at helping the teachers gain an in-depth understanding of the AP Exam so they can better assess their own students’ work. The programs are sponsored by College Board, a not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity (and helps teachers learn to do so).
The University of Notre Dame’s Advanced Placement Teacher Investment Program (AP-Tip) in Indiana was the destination for teachers Caitlin Murphy, English teacher, and Kumkum Bonnerjee, Math and Science teacher in late July. The program has grown from a state-wide math, science, and English initiative to a national endeavor dedicated to improving students’ college and career readiness. The program aligns with the CRSM mission, sharing the beliefs that all young people, especially those from underserved communities, deserve a high-quality education that prepares them for their own futures and empowers them to influence the communities in which they live.
“It was really helpful because we often have a difficult time getting female students into AP Physics, but I was able to have some great conversations with other teachers about this,” says Kumkum.
Teachers Katie Cothran and Lourdes Marrero traveled to Wisconsin to attend the Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI), Lourdes for AP Calculus and Katie for AP Biology. The workshop is designed to strengthen how instructors design and teach their AP courses.
by admin | Aug 22, 2022 | Academic
It is Monday morning and the first day of school at CRSM. The entire community of 406 students, including the new freshman Class of 2026, and about 100 faculty, staff and volunteers gathered at 8:15 a.m. in the cafeteria for a kick-off assembly.
“We want you to do well, do your best, and think about how everything we do here is in caring for others,” said President Preston Kendall.
Several current students and alumna Daniela Sanchez, a Class of ’19 graduate and junior at Lake Forest College, shared tips and advice for incoming freshman and for the entire student body as they head into the 2022-23 school year.
“You are very lucky to be part of a network of teachers, work partners and a community that cares for you so deeply and is here to help you, not just in high school, but in college and the workforce,” said Sanchez. “Make sure you take advantage of all the opportunities that are here for you.”
Principal Mike Odiotti reminded those gathered that this assembly is only one of two times in the year (because of the work-study program job commitments) that the entire community meets together. He shared the inspiration his mother gave him early on. While a student at Northwestern University, his mother was told “Women can’t become doctors.” Instead, his mom became a nurse, but always regretted not being able to pursue her larger dream and shared with her son: “Never let someone else define your reality.” Dr. Odiotti recalls those words and said to students: “Let this remind you that despite whatever challenges you may face, you can take charge of your destiny.””
