September President’s Pen with Preston Kendall: On being people for others

by | Oct 19, 2022 | President’s Pen

One table in our cafeteria was particularly busy this week. It wasn’t a bake sale or some special food offering. It was students signing up with our Campus Ministry staff for regular volunteer opportunities throughout the school year. Every Tuesday, CRSM sends students to local PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter) locations to set up beds and then prepare and serve an evening meal for local people experiencing homelessness. Also on Tuesdays, separate groups go to Roberti Community House to provide mentoring and tutoring to younger children in the area. On Wednesday nights, students go to the Northern Illinois Food Bank to pack food that is then distributed throughout northern Illinois for our neighbors who are experiencing food insecurity, including monthly distribution events in CRSM’s parking lot. Thursdays, students assemble individualized nutritious meal packs from bulk ingredients at Feed My Starving Children that are then shipped to domestic and international locations in urgent need of food – refugee camps, natural disaster relief sites, and agencies fighting chronic hunger and poverty – mostly in Africa, South America, and the Caribbean.

Unlike many other public and private schools, CRSM intentionally does not require a certain number of volunteer hours for graduation. We want students to freely choose to volunteer their time and effort. Requiring rather than inviting turns doing service into a transactional rather than transformational experience. This is an important distinction since we want students to come to know the grace inherent in selfless acts by choice, not coercion. Freedom to choose leaves open the possibility that service will transform our students’ sense of self and their ability to change the world.

Mahatma Gandhi observed, “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Similarly, St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer includes the lines, “For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned…” Service benefits the servers as much or more than the recipients. At CRSM, we strive to be “people for others” or “persons for others.” This phrase is borrowed from Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ who is often considered the second founder of the Society of Jesus. His full quote from 1973 is as poignant today as it was then: “Today our prime educational objective must be to form men-and-women-for-others; men and women who will live not for themselves but for God… men and women who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors…”

Ultimately, service is elemental to our faith: God made us. God loves us. God only wants to be loved back. We love God back by loving one another.

All of us are on a journey of self-discovery. To accompany others on their journeys, especially when they are suffering and in need, is to realize that we are truly connected to one another and co-dependent. To separate ourselves from one another is to separate ourselves from God. Jesus teaches this same concept of connection in Matthew’s gospel about judgement day: “‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!’”

Being a person-for-others is not about seeking reward or avoiding punishment; it is a mindset that leads to spiritual growth and discovery. By serving others we can become more fully ourselves in our dualistic state as both human and spiritual beings. Becoming an agent for positive change in the lives of others – even on a small scale – should embolden us to do even more and on an even larger scale. In service, we glimpse a part of ourselves in the other person and we realize that we truly do belong to one another. We see the world and ourselves differently. “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:12)

How incredibly gratifying to see that line of students at the Campus Ministry table this week. It wasn’t a bake sale or some special food offering. It was students taking up the invitation to something that feeds a deeper hunger in each of us – an invitation to come to know God’s love by spreading God’s love

August President’s Pen with Preston Kendall

by | 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!

July President’s Pen with Preston Kendall

by | Jul 8, 2022 | President’s Pen

Summer slows most schools down to a near halt. Everything runs in a lower gear so people can catch their breath before the next school year begins. At Cristo Rey St. Martin, summer marks the straightaway where things shift into an even higher gear. As soon as one year ends, we are already knee deep in the next. Our incoming 9th grade class has been with us daily since the first week of June. Final exams for older students ended the week of Memorial Day and the following Monday the 2023 school year began. No time to rest on our laurels – there’s work to be done!

Sure, 2022 marked our third year in a row of having 100% of our seniors being accepted to at least one bachelors’ program… Yes, 90% of the class of 2022 who started with CRSM on the first day of 9th grade graduated with a CRSM diploma (only the second highest retention rate in CRSM history and the second highest in the history of the entire Cristo Rey Network of schools)… Of course, we ended the year with more students than ever before earning a 3.0 GPA or higher – 81% of the entire student body…. We had our first student accepted to Stanford and more students going to Washington University, Holy Cross, NYU, and Brown… But it’s a new year and 2023 is already asking, “what have you done for me lately?”

In addition to our 9th graders participating in Corporate Work Study job preparation training and the Academic Bridge program, regular summer school is in full swing. This year features a dual-credit Statistics class, meaning our students get high school credit from CRSM while simultaneously earning college credit for the course through Loyola University Chicago. We also have a Physical education class for rising sophomores so they can free up a period in the fall to take AP World History. How about that? Giving up part of your summer in order to set yourself up for a more rigorous course load in the first semester? With that kind of work ethic, you know our students are going places!

The gym alternates between voluntary soccer camp and volleyball camp for boys and girls and the fitness center is open every morning with a dozen or so students using it at a time. Looking at the wonderful new spaces available on our campus, one thing is certain: our students are making the most of the resources available to them.

CRSM is also leveraging its resources to benefit others. The school recently hosted a weeklong STEM-oriented IBIO camp for grade school and middle school girls using our science labs and the monthly food distribution events in our parking lot with the Northern Illinois Food Bank continue without a break.

Most people only hear about Waukegan on the news and the image is seldom good. Environmental issues, crime, and poverty monopolize headlines. It probably doesn’t help that we are the “county seat” and all high-profile criminal cases in the area are tried at the courthouse here. But, if you scratch beneath the surface, there is tremendous talent and potential here. Young people just need opportunities and access to surprise everyone with what they are capable of accomplishing. Cristo Rey St. Martin is doing just that, and hope is palpable!

Come visit CRSM anytime and you will witness a place abuzz with intentional, hopeful activity – figuratively and literally. Figuratively in the sense of all that is going on, even in the summer. Literally because I forgot to mention that our Environmental Club has two beehives up and running in the pollinator garden behind our school. Did you know each hive holds 10,000 bees? students are coming in regularly, donning the apiary suits and bring the smoke, to check on them throughout the summer.

It’s amazing to watch the hustle and bustle, the comings and goings with so much purpose and productivity. Hard working individuals who, together, make up an incredible community doing something good for themselves and for the community beyond their walls.

Wait a minute… are we talking about CRSM students or bees? Come and find out!

 

June President’s Pen with Preston Kendall

by | Jun 4, 2022 | President’s Pen

“It’s like a family,” is how most Cristo Rey St. Martin students respond when asked to describe the culture at the school. It’s not accidental. Building community, creating a culture of care and trust, fostering a compassionate but challenging environment where students find motivation and success is a deliberate act… a sustained team effort by faculty and administration over several years. Think of the challenge of maintaining a consistently high performing culture when 25% of your students turnover every year. At CRSM, culture is intentional. A quote from an alumna of CRSM ’10 captures an important aspect of our mission. In an address to our students after graduating Dartmouth, she said:

“One final note that I want to touch on is the idea of collective success. … Through my four years (at college), I’ve learned that having a degree shouldn’t mean I’ve “made it” …that my successes mean nothing if there are still so many talented and intelligent young people who are [not given a chance at success]. CRSM does an amazing job at advocating for collective success… Collective success is the only way to enact widespread change and I am proud to have graduated from a high school that is doing just that.”

Having a strong school culture paid off during the pandemic. Our school community found ways to maintain its sense of belonging and collective mission by maximizing opportunities to learn in-person and gathering regularly to serve our neighbors through food distribution events and vaccination clinics. As a result, when we returned this school year to full-time, in-person classes, our students’ performance went through the roof. This year, we had more students earning above a 3.0 GPA and fewer students with GPAs below 2.0 than ever before. As one senior said to me, “Mr. Kendall, we worked so hard and had to constantly adapt to everything COVID threw at us, but we persevered and, especially this year, it just feels like we came roaring back!”

At the end of every school year, our Principal surveys students and faculty. This year’s results proved positive beyond expectations. For example, here’s how students responded to the following statements:

  • “At our school, programs and services are available to help me succeed.” 48.6% of students strongly agreed and 43.8% agreed
  • “At our school, a high-quality education is offered.” 59.0% strongly agreed and 35.2% agreed
  • “At our school, adults have high expectations for me.” 50.0% strongly agreed and 42.9% agreed
  • “Staff in our school display a caring attitude toward students.” 46.9% strongly agreed and 44.1% agreed

Over 90% of students either strongly agreed or agreed to all those statements. Hopefully, this is evidence we are doing something right!

Teachers offered similar endorsements. When asked to identify CRSM’s greatest strength, here is what they had to say:

  • “The greatest strength of CRSM is the shared purpose. More than any other school I’ve ever worked in or visited, I think the students generally feel that the teachers are collaborators rather than gate keepers. This creates a tremendously productive learning environment.”
  • “The people. From students, to staff, to administration there is a great respect and drive for success. People are given freedoms, and in return they work harder perform at their very best.”
  • “CRSM’s greatest strength (apart from its students) is that it keeps learning transparent. We are able to collaborate with teachers and admin and support staff. I think our students are constantly growing because the teachers have the freedom to grow and learn themselves.”
  • “The community – students, families, staff – all focused on the mission”

“It’s like a family.” English grammar labels that a simile. But sometimes CRSM isn’t just “like” a family, sometimes it really is a family. At graduation this past weekend, I experienced a bittersweet family moment I will always treasure. Our mass and commencement ceremony had ended, the joyous throng of rightfully proud families and graduates had moved out from the gym and into the school parking lot accompanied by mariachi music booked by a grateful father for just this occasion. Many of us from the faculty and administration mingled, chatted, posed for pictures, and celebrated with the families.

As the crowd thinned, I made my way back inside the now quiet building and was walking the long hallway to my office when a voice called out. I turned and saw two parents literally running toward me, the mother crying. I immediately recognized them. Their twin girls had just graduated, the two youngest of their eight children. Their boys, the two oldest, entered high school before Cristo Rey St. Martin was founded but all six girls attended CRSM. Starting as a 9th grader in 2005, the oldest girl graduated in 2009, followed by her other sisters graduating in 2012, 2013, 2019, and the twins in 2022! The daughter from Class of 2013 was Valedictorian and one of the twins this year was Salutatorian for her class.

The oldest daughter is now a bilingual teacher with M.Ed. in Elementary Education & Teaching pursuing her second Master’s degree in Educational Leadership & Administration. Another daughter has a Bachelor’s in Social Work and a Master’s in Business Management working as a College and Career Navigator/Academic Advisor at our local Community College. Still another earned a BA in Computer Science from Georgetown and a BS in Computer Engineering from Columbia in New York. Yet another is at Lake Forest studying Education One of the twins is on her way to University of Illinois to study Civil Engineering and the other to Lake Forest College as an Education major.

As we closed the gap between us, the mother hugged me and said through her tears, “After 17 straight years, we won’t have anyone attending CRSM next year. We are all done! Thank you so much for… everything!” I hugged her back, saying, “I should be thanking you! Your family has been such a huge part of CRSM. You and your family have made CRSM like a family to so many. Thank you for sharing your daughters with us. We are so proud of each and every one of them.”

I shook the father’s hand and marveled at these two parents who worked so hard and gave their all to give their children a better life – true heroes. As we parted and I turned toward my office, I must admit I shed a tear or two, too. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!

May President’s Pen with Preston Kendall

by | May 1, 2022 | President’s Pen

Seeds are the ultimate metaphor for hope – young and full of potential – and a fitting symbol for our students. Our young people are our future. With proper care and nurturing, they will grow to their full potential, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes intentional, focused work, day-after-day, and year-after-year, for our students to bring their true talents to fruition. Especially in a community climate full of challenges.

It doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen alone. It is a team effort. We are all called to plant and till and reap and replant in our own way according to our unique gifts and talents.

Jesus tells us, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.” Part of the process of bringing in the crops includes reserving seeds for the next crop. It’s not a one-time event; it’s renewal – a growth cycle that transcends one person or one generation. Planting seeds, supporting our youth in their efforts to follow their passions and dreams, is about stewardship and mutuality, selflessness and generosity. It’s about love.

We invite you to join us in this worthy effort. What we do sets an example for the next generation. Planting seeds is hope in action; it’s betting on the future – believing that the best is yet to come – and knowing that our lives have been blessed by those who came before us and desiring to pass those blessings on to the next generation.

There is a famous prayer written by Ken Untener in memory of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Here are some excerpts:

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete…

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
An opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

We are only on this earth a short time, but our mortality offers us an invitation to do something, no matter how small, to make the world just a little better before we leave it. St. Paul insists, “Three things last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

If our students are seeds, our responsibility is to provide fertile soil and sunlight and water – access and opportunities that will create an ecosystem where they can grow and flourish with the hope that, when they develop their own potential, they will bear fruit and plant seeds for the next generation.

The single most effective way for a young person to find upward economic mobility is to stay in school, go to college, and find a career that matches their passions. At CRSM, this is what we are about: we prepare our students for the rigors of college and expose them to professional work environments not for the degree or the experiences in and of themselves, but for where those degrees and experiences will lead them – to greater career choices and, ultimately, social agency – toward a societal status where they can initiate positive change in our world… toward a place where they, too, can plant seeds and pay it forward again.

You help us continue our mission. By supporting our students, their families, and our community, you are planting seeds for success. You are sowing seeds of hope for brighter futures.

We recently held our 2022 Founders’ Dinner and, predictably, the theme was “Planting Seeds for Success.” Here is a link to the video we showed that evening. It really captures the spirit of our students who personify the mission of Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep. Thank you for all you do for CRSM. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!