Alumna Lauded as Business “Rookie of the Year”

Alumna Lauded as Business “Rookie of the Year”

At 15 years old, Samantha Bahena made a pledge: “I want to be that one out of 10 students in Waukegan who goes to college,” which at the time was the trajectory. The 22-year-old CRSM Class of ’17 grad recently was named “Rookie of the Year,” at Advanced Resources where she works full-time as she completes her final semester at National Louis University. She is certainly poised to be the first in her family to graduate from college in June.

Balancing a full-time job and college is not an easy feat, but Samantha is no stranger to hard work.

When she graduates this summer, she will already have six years of recruiting experience, specializing in the placement of temporary and contract-to-hire office operations professionals. Since she was in high school, she began as a Staffing Coordinator intern, then transitioned to Recruiter for their Northbrook-based firm as part of her Corporate Work Study program. Today, she’s a full-time employee as a Consultant Engagement Associate. “Confident, well-spoken, very determined,” these are all words chosen to describe her since she joined the firm.

“Since coming into our organization, as a Sophomore at Cristo Rey, Sam Bahena has been an incredible asset to her team,” says her boss, Brian Brooke, Managing Director. “Sam has a desire that cannot be taught. She has taken that desire and has been humble, determined and extremely hard working in her progression at Advanced Resources. Starting as an intern, she earned the opportunity to do more complex and important tasks before finally becoming a recruiter in early 2021.”

He adds: “Sam parlayed that experience and desire into becoming the Rookie of the Year in 2021 for the whole organization. Sam has an incredibly bright future and I have no doubt that she will be successful in whatever she puts her mind to.”

“Working full-time and going to college is stressful for sure, but I know it will pay off in the long run,” she says.

It’s a lesson she learned at CRSM. “I saw that you had to put in all you can to be successful,” she says. “I’m pretty self-driven and competitive so I push myself and have friendly competitions with my co-workers. I am honored to have been recognized as Rookie of the Year. I want to thank Advanced Resources for the recognition, and for their constant support.”

As one of Advanced Resources’ 600 team members, Samantha has her eye on moving up the corporate ladder with her next win, a director’s title. In 10 years, she says she wants to be working, “have a home and two kids,” and get her Master’s degree.

Her advice for CRSM students:

“Be open to learning as much as you can,” Samantha says. “Be yourself, speak your mind and have confidence you can achieve your dreams. It’s hard for me to believe I was 15 years old working in a corporate job. But you can do anything you work hard for.”

 
Hope Forward: College Surprises Seniors with Hand-delivered Acceptance Letters

Hope Forward: College Surprises Seniors with Hand-delivered Acceptance Letters

Seniors Gallery, Eliza and Judy thought they were meeting with other members of the Class of 2022 and Principal Mike Odiotti to discuss outstanding details they needed to clear up before graduation next June; instead, the trio and 14 of their peers found a representative from Hope College waiting for them with surprise acceptance packages and a sea of congratulations.

“This is so exciting,” said Judy, who will be a first-generation college student. “It’s almost unbelievable to think I’m holding this and that it is real.” A member of the National Hispanic Honor Society, the National Honor Society and a Student Ambassador, Judy is looking forward to college and possibly pursuing a career in forensic science.

The trio were among the 18 students who received hand-delivered acceptance packages to Hope College, on Nov. 17. Hope College is a four-year liberal arts college in Holland, MI, which shares a like mission with CRSM, said Kayleigh Wonch, a CRSM English teacher and graduate of Hope College. Fifteen percent of students there are considered first-generation college students.

“At Hope College, we know that how we lead is how we live: with passion, curiosity and an anchored conviction to serve the world, which is very much like what you do at Cristo Rey St. Martin,” said Allison Bulson, admissions representative for Hope College who presented the acceptance packages.

Representatives from College Bound Opportunities and Waukegan to College also attended the acceptance event.

For CRSM seniors, ‘tis the season when they start hearing back from the colleges and universities they’ve applied to, and have shared their dreams in personal statements. Acceptances are just starting to dribble in.

“This is huge and makes it all seem like it’s really happening,” said Gallery, who is looking to pursue opportunities in environmental science.

September 2021 President’s Pen

“The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy. It depends upon the way we occupy that place.” – Saint Therese of Lisieux

Lately, people have been asking what it is like to be back in full-time classes at CRSM. My response is a single word, “Joyful.” It’s true. It is something more profound than happiness and is rooted in something bigger. When you walk down the halls or stop to chat with students in the cafeteria, there is a strong sense that everyone wants to be here and is ecstatic to finally be back together. Our new spaces certainly enhance being back together – the gym, the student union, and La Mesita de Martin coffee shop. At lunch, these places are teaming with students. The foosball and ping pong tables are constantly in use. La Mesita just started selling juice and snacks. (Faculty and staff are eager for the coffee equipment to arrive but even La Mesita can’t escape supply chain issues from the pandemic.) Yesterday, I wandered into the gym. There was a pick-up basketball game in one corner, a circle of students juggling a soccer ball in another, some others practicing volleyball digs and passes, and still others hanging out on the bleachers doing homework or talking with friends. If not for the masks, it was almost an archetypal pre-COVID high school moment – except, of course, CRSM never had a gym or any of these spaces before the pandemic. The fact that these scenes are now unfolding daily at CRSM is truly a gift! For so many years we did without such universal high school locales. Now that we have them, our students certainly aren’t taking them for granted.

The new space is truly a blessing and even more important now because of the deliberately gradual return-to-work timetables many of our business partners in the Corporate Work Study Program are implementing. In the program, four students job-share a full-time position at professional workplaces so, typically, 25% of our student body is out working every day. With some CWSP jobs still working remotely and others delaying their re-openings, we currently have thirty more students in the building each day than planned. Even with the new build-out, our 400-student campus was designed with the idea there would only be 300 students here on any given day. But, we are accustomed to making the best with what we have and we have so much more space than ever before! Since it is not yet consecrated, our chapel is temporarily serving as the students’ office for remote work. Having them here with us for their workday rather than staying home is a vast improvement because here they have reliable Wi-Fi, can eat lunch with their peers, and can access our own work-study staffers for any questions or issues that may arise when their supervisors are not available.

The classrooms are full, we are back to having lunches prepared on-site instead of bringing in pre-packaged fare. Faculty have returned to making “learning walks” with our Principal and Assistant Principal – visiting one another’s classes and sharing observations. There’s a welcome return to increased informal communication with one another in the hallways; it all seems so much more efficient… and fun. We may not see each other’s full facial expressions but at least we can look one another in the eye and see eyes smiling back. It feels like progress, like we are getting back into our proper orbit.

To give you an idea just how important it is to be back together, consider our September progress report. Each year at mid-month, we track the number of failures for all classes. We have four hundred students and each student takes seven classes. In 2019, before the pandemic hit, we had 90 failures out of a possible 2,800. In 2020, at the height of quarantine, we experienced 196 failures. This year, back to full-time school, we have 57 failures – fewer than before COVID! This speaks volumes about how much our students and teachers missed one another – everyone is working hard and the results show it. Old lyrics say, “You don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it.” I would add, “When you find it again, you value it more than ever.”

Which brings me back to the quote from Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower. The only value a place possesses comes from what transpires between and among the people who occupy it. Cristo Rey St. Martin isn’t a building, it’s a community. What makes CRSM so special and effective is our culture. We respect and care for one another and that is expressed most fully when we are physically together. In 1 John, it is written, “No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.” The key word is “us.” You cannot love alone; it’s a team sport. Love reaches its fullest expression in us… and “us” begins by being together. Thank you for all you do for CRSM!

 

College Fair Helps Students Decide Their Future

College Fair Helps Students Decide Their Future

More than 50 admissions counselors from colleges and universities filled the chapel and conference rooms, at Cristo Rey St. Martin Sept. 24, 2021, to help students decide their next steps after high school.

The third annual college fair was organized by the college counseling department and was open to all CRSM juniors and seniors and their parents. The event gave students and parents an opportunity to speak directly with college representatives and learn more about programs, financial aid, and school culture.

CRSM senior Ashley, plans to study veterinary medicine and was able to narrow her choice of schools after speaking with college representatives at the college fair. She’s got her sight set on The University of Wisconsin/Madison, Lawrence University and Augustana College, her top three picks.

“I loved it,” says Ashley, who also is a College Bound Opportunity Scholar, works at the student-run La Mesita De Martin coffee shop and works weekends and after school at Starbucks. “It was amazing, and the reps were so happy to talk to us. I am passionate about working as a vet to help animals who have been abandoned and are in poor health become healthy again. I’m looking for a school that really cares about students, has diversity, and will offer me the best opportunity. It all just clicked for me and now I know where I want to be.”

The 50 colleges and universities included: Arrupe College of Loyola, Xavier, DePaul Marquette, Lawrence and National Louis universities, along with the College of the Holy Cross, Lake Forest College, Davidson College in North Carolina and more.

Last year, in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, CRSM was unable to hold the college fair, so this year’s event is even more significant, according to CRSM’s college counselors, Sharon Holdvogt and Lori Felix. “We’ve very excited to bring back this opportunity to our students again,” they both agreed. “We strongly believe that college changes the trajectory for our students and so we do everything we can to educate them, and their parents, about what that experience will be like. This was a great way to rejuvenate the excitement about the college experience.”

CRSM college counselors have been receiving very positive feedback from the college reps who met with students. “The fair was an awesome experience, and the students were unbelievably engaged and asked some incredible questions,” says Mike Andelbradt, Assistant Director of Enrollment, John Carroll University. “We hope to have some of them coming our way here outside of Cleveland, Ohio.”

Margaret Ford, an admissions counselor at Marian University says she was “very impressed,” with CRSM students.

“You have a very diverse group of students here and put a lot of emphasis on academics, culture and faith, which are also the core values of Marian,” she says.

Maira Rodriguez, Associate Director of Admissions at Augustana College says: “The students here are incredible. They’re energized and know what questions to ask.”

Since the fair, Holdvogt says she’s been approached by students who say they’ve added new schools to their list and are eager to make in-person visits. CRSM has distributed gas cards to students so that they can make treks to college campuses with their parents.

For more information on college counseling at CRSM, contact: Sharon Holdvogt, College Counselor
sholdvogt@cristoreystmartin.org or Lori Felix, College Counselor lorifelix@cristoreystmartin.org.

School Year Kicks off with Impressive Achievements

School Year Kicks off with Impressive Achievements

With a firm strategy of requiring vaccination, masks and other public health protocols, CRSM students, teachers and staff are successfully back in school and poised for a strong academic, work and service life undefeated by the disruptions of the past year and a half of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This a monumental, magical moment,” President Preston Kendall said, welcoming more than 450 students, teachers and staff for the first gathering together in two years.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, CRSM has returned impressive numbers during the last year outpacing projections, said Dr. Mike Odiotti, principal. At the assembly, he shared impressive evidence of the achievements from the 2020-2021 school year, and projections that the new school will continue the upward trajectory:

  • 84% of the students earned AP credit on at least one AP exam – almost triple the 2020 State average of 29%, and more than double of the 39 % in 2010-2011
  • CRSM retention rates are more than 80%, the highest in the Cristo Rey Network, compared to the lowest rates, less than 40 %, in 2008
  • Nine students this year are being considered for the Posse Foundation full-ride scholarship, compared to seven total in the school’s history and four nominated with two winners last year.

Calling it “a huge testament to the great work being done at CRSM,” Odiotti shared thoughts he received from one of the leaders of the Walton Family Foundation, following her onsite visit:

“I visit many, many high schools, but I don’t recall seeing a high school where every student, in every classroom, was on task about creating high quality work like they are here,” said Abigail Schumwinger, program officer for the Walton Foundation.