by admin | Apr 3, 2022 | President’s Pen
This past October, the XQ Institute published an editorial entitled, “5 Ways to Support Student Mental Health” – you can find a copy on their website. Like our Cristo Rey Network of schools, XQ promotes their own educational model that rethinks the high school experience. They differ from Cristo Rey in that they focus on charter and public schools. XQ has 22 schools and school-within-a-school programs around the country, so they certainly have direct experience to back their assertions.
Mental health for students has been a top-of-mind topic this year as schools continue to adapt to the challenges brought by the ongoing pandemic, including much of the fallout from the last two years when students and teachers experienced extended periods of isolation, remote learning, disruption of their structured schedules, as well as the sometimes-overwhelming fear, uncertainty, anxiety, and stress we all have known.
XQ’s five strategies encouraged in their editorial to support student mental health are:
- Learn: Empower Students Through Transformative Learning Experiences
- Listen: Seek and Elevate Student Voice
- Create: Promote Healing Through the Arts
- Invest: Use Covid Funds to Support BIPOC students (Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color)
- Innovate: Adapt COVID Protocols to Support Mental Health
Regardless of the differences in our models and operations, it is amazing how closely their recommended steps resemble several initiatives undertaken at Cristo Rey St. Martin.
LEARN
CRSM worked diligently and creatively to keep students connected and learning throughout this pandemic. In March through May of 2020, CRSM (like much of the rest of the world) went completely virtual. Because our school had begun the practice of issuing every student his or her own Chromebook a few years earlier, we only had to make sure students had Wi-Fi access at home and we were fully operational. Student attendance during that remote time was still better than 90%. Summer school in 2020 was full-time in-person. Because of distancing requirements, the 2020-2021 school year shifted to a hybrid schedule where students could attend classes in-person twice a week. Since the beginning of summer school in 2001, CRSM has been running full-time in person. By maximizing in-person learning experiences, we maintained a strong sense of community and attachment, minimizing many of the pitfalls extended remote experiences produced.
Additionally, our Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) shifted its focus in early summer – from trying to contract paying jobs to simply ensuring that every student had a job. We prioritized our students’ in-person work experiences over the need for paying jobs. Obviously, that means we currently have many more students working at non-profit organizations than usual, which hurts CRSM financially, but students are interacting and contributing while in-person in professional environments and have been for the entire school year. The only students working remotely this year are being paid by their job partners. What program are you aware of that is a more “transformative learning experience” than the CWSP?
LISTEN
CRSM continues to monitor the social/emotional status of our community, being especially alert to changes in student behavior from prior to COVID until now – counselors reach out to students (electronically, by phone, and now face-to-face); teachers check-in with students at the beginning of their classes; campus ministry offers opportunities for reflection and prayer; teachers and staff visit informally with students during study halls, at lunch, and even afterschool. More teachers and staff are regularly eating lunch together with the students in our cafeteria than even before the pandemic. Our students are also looking out for one another – attuned and empathetic to struggling classmates, at times referring friends to counselors. The antidote for mental and emotional trauma is community and community is CRSM’s strength.
CREATE
Before COVID, CRSM began a fledgling fine arts program and, this school year, shifted it into a higher gear. An Introduction to Fine Arts elective is now offered as well as an Introduction to Music Theory. The Art Club meets during lunch/flex time and afterschool, and the number of participating students expanded dramatically. In the coming weeks CRSM will host both the Cristo Rey Network’s Annual Meeting and the first in-person Founders’ Dinner in three years. In anticipation of these events, our Arts Club transformed the school’s library space this week into a professional art gallery – an incredible display of student talent in the form of sketches, pastels, paintings, computer-generated graphics, photographs, origami sculptures, and poetry.
Arts offer students alternative forms of expression and intermittent escapes from stress and anxiety. Drawing, for example, requires complete focus – keeping stress or worry at bay. Participation in the arts at CRSM is expanding dramatically – literally! Our theater program performed four productions of “Bram Stroker’s Dracula” this weekend, a first for our new stage in the gym. Over 17% of the student body is involved in some way – acting, directing, lighting, sound, scenery, props, ushers, and concessions! Acting can be both an escape and a chance to discover more about oneself by assuming another personality – it can even promote empathy. Being part of the production is being on a team – working together as a cohesive unit to prepare and realize live performances. The Art Show and the play recognize extended efforts that foster community, encourage deeper expression, and improve mental health.
INVEST
CRSM accessed funding through the CARES Act and spent it on improving the building’s HVAC system by installing Ultraviolet air filters. Known to kill other viruses like the flu, we could only postulate they would be effective against COVID. It wasn’t until after our installation was already underway that a UK research team published research confirming Ultraviolet exposure also killed the Coronavirus. The extra funding also allowed CRSM to purchase rapid tests as soon as they became available, permitting daily testing of students and staff before entering our building. These actions helped create an environment supportive to safe in-person gatherings and gathering together allows us to do everything else.
Well before the pandemic, families from low-income communities were forced to endure limited access to quality education and healthcare and fewer options for stable employment. COVID only magnified and expanded these inequities; CRSM’s mission is to reduce and eliminate them. All our resources are devoted to this so, when additional pandemic funds became available, it only made sense to devote them to that same cause.
In the U.S., income functions as a surrogate demographic for race. When XQ suggests a focus on BIPOC students it is akin to CRSM’s mission to reserve our educational opportunity for low-income students.
INNOVATE
Cristo Rey began as an innovative approach to education that harnesses corporate America and private, Catholic education to create a team to plow through an unequal playing field. It continues to do so. We have proven our ability to innovate in the past, but we are more acutely aware than ever that cannot not rest on those laurels. The world is changing – adapting is the only way to survive and flourish. The challenges of this pandemic force us to continue to innovate everywhere and all the time… and we will do it – in community and with deep compassion.
by admin | Mar 1, 2022 | President’s Pen
The New York Times ran a story this morning about classroom disruptions from COVID and how they have adversely impacted students. One quote that jumped out stated, “There is now a consensus that children learned much less than usual – and that their mental health suffered – when schools were shut for months in 2020 and 2021. [Disruptions also created] problems for parents, especially working-class parents who cannot do their jobs remotely as easily as many white-collar professionals can.”
The developers of the widely used MAP Growth assessments recently released a report that corroborates these findings. In a brief released in December 2021 from Northwest Evaluation Association’s (NWEA) Center for School & Student Progress, researchers summarized:
- Achievement was lower for all student groups in fall 2021; however, historically marginalized students and students in high-poverty schools were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades we studied.
- Student gains across the pandemic (from fall 2019 to fall 2021) lagged norms for pre- pandemic growth, especially in math.
Many educators I spoke with say their schools are also struggling with unusual student behaviors as they returned to full-time instruction this year. An education-based newsletter, Chalkbeat, published a story in September 2021 that captured some of the issues, “Schools across the country say they’re seeing an uptick in disruptive behaviors. Some are obvious and visible, like students trashing bathrooms, fighting over social media posts, or running out of classrooms. Others are quieter calls for help, like students putting their head down and refusing to talk.”
Lower achievement and lagging gains are very real. Unusual student behaviors are predictable fallout from the stress, anxiety, isolation, and general suffering our families, students, and teachers suffered over the last two years. The two are clearly related. Higher functioning skills like problem solving, behavior regulation, and critical thinking cannot be accessed or practiced if one is dealing with high anxiety and stress. You can’t do long division if you are being chased by a bear! Isolation, uncertainty, fear combine to push us into a flight-or-fight response.
Thankfully, as our academic team and counselors began planning for this school year, they had the foresight to bring in a psychologist with expertise in enhancing a school’s “ability to support the social and emotional needs of their students. Specifically… helping schools build student resilience within a trauma-responsive framework.” Doug Bolton came in before school started, again in the middle of the first semester, and again just this last month to work with our faculty.
Essentially, the way to combat trauma and the survival-type responses it elicits is to find ways to provide a stable, safe, and supportive environment – an environment where higher-level cognitive functions can take place. An indispensable element needed to create such an environment is through respectful, caring, trust-based relationships. I believe it is difficult, if not impossible, to nurture relationships of this kind in a remote or virtual environment.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, CRSM went fully remote for the remainder of the school year. We held full-time, in-person summer school and then, because of distancing requirements, went to a hybrid model for the 2020-21 year where students could attend in-person classes two days/per week. Many other schools remained fully remote. Throughout last year, we held regular volunteer opportunities to distribute food in our parking lot and held vaccine clinics when shots were scarce. The events created opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to come together in a meaningful way to contribute positively to the greater community. We held Summer School again full-time and in-person and have been full-time, in-person for the entire year this year.
By doing everything possible to maximize in-person interactions while still following the science, CRSM was really focused on creating opportunities to keep and build relationships with our students. As COVID cases and deaths wane in the U.S., CRSM seems better positioned to rebound than most other schools.
Our academic results for the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year certainly point to a huge rebound. They are simply astounding. Here are just a few examples:
- The most recent academic ineligibility list came out today and we have ten students below a 2.0 GPA – that’s 10 students for all four grades: 10 out of 400 (2.5%)!
- 81% of all CRSM students have a 3.0 GPA or higher and
- 97 students (over 24%) have a 4.0 GPA.
These statistics are better than any of CRSM’s pre-COVID accomplishments! Myriad factors contribute to this level of success. With few exceptions, our students come from close families and hard-working parents. CRSM teacher retention has been very strong throughout the pandemic. Our teachers have made herculean efforts to engage and support their students. Our counselors have been in overdrive checking in on students. The Corporate Work Study Team shifted away from getting more paying jobs and ensured that every student had a real job with 75% of the students working in-person at their job sites.
So far, this school year has been marked by joy and camaraderie – feelings that only come from a happy, productive school culture. Our teachers’ deliberate and intentional focus on relationships is a big part of what is making a difference. Here are three quotes from Doug Bolton’s excellent presentations that could easily describe CRSM today:
“Brains grow best in the context of supportive relationships.”
Louis Cozolino (professor of psychology at Pepperdine University)
“It is the experience of loving and being loved that most closely predicts how we
react to the hardships of life. Human attachments are the ultimate source of resilience.”
George Vaillant (Director of Research for the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital)
“How else, except through connection, can people be reminded of their goodness.”
Father Greg Boyle (founder of Homeboy Industries)
We are better when we are together. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!
by admin | Feb 1, 2022 | President’s Pen
My close friend and colleague, Fr. John P. Foley, SJ, retired last week. What “retirement” actually means for a guy like John is something that both he and we will discover over time. The biggest initial change is that he moved from his rooms in Chicago to the Jesuit retirement community in Clarkston, MI. What was a 45-minute drive is now a 4 ½ hour trip. So, spontaneously grabbing a beer or meeting for lunch is out of the question. Of course, he is still just a phone or Zoom call away for touching base.
We hatched a plot to see John off in style: 1) As he left Chicago, the person driving him to Michigan would casually suggest they drive by the original Cristo Rey school in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago on the way out of town for “old time’s sake.” 2) Meanwhile, we secretly invited friends, family, alumni, and old co-workers to be on-hand to cheer him on. 3) Cristo Rey Jesuit High School administrators adjusted class schedules for the day so that hundreds of current students could join the crowd. 4) We collected noisemakers, made posters, and ordered giant photos of John to distribute among the throng. 5) Through clandestine text messages and tracking applications, we monitored when John’s car would arrive in Pilsen. 6) As John passed Cristo Rey, the car stopped, and he was greeted by a throng of well-wishers giving thanks and sending him on his way to retirement feeling truly loved!
If you say to John that he is THE Founder of the Cristo Rey movement, he will invariably decline the moniker and point out that he was merely part of its Founding Team. His humility is certainly part of the reason there are now 38 Cristo Rey schools around the country and more coming. John has always said, “This thing (meaning the Cristo Rey movement) is bigger than all of us!” In a way, I think that was John reminding us all (especially those of us in leadership roles) that our schools are not about us. He led and leads by example.
We need to check our egos at the door and remember that the mission of Cristo Rey is about empowering our students to become agents of positive change in the world. We are not here for us; we are here for them. We are called to be persons for others and they, too, are called to pay-forward the opportunities Cristo Rey opens for them by making the most of those opportunities and using their new-found upward mobility and influence to improve the lives of others. As one of John’s fellow “founders,” I cannot overstate how important his passion and compassion were to the success of Cristo Rey. The funny part about working toward selflessness is that it is the most personally rewarding experience you can have.
As we gathered old photos and made posters for John’s drive-by, I found an old picture of a billboard we rented in Pilsen to recruit students before the original Cristo Rey school opened for the first time. John came up with a great byline: “Cristo Rey Jesuit High School – ¡Una nueva pasión en Pilsen!” Really brilliant. The school was a cause for passion – enthusiasm and excitement – in the ‘hood, but the phrase also invoked a deeper concept of the passion of Christ the King, walking with our savior in good times and bad – the lynchpin of our faith, accompanying the ultimate “person for others.”
Passion is Cristo Rey’s secret weapon. How many people will tell you that the reason they joined Cristo Rey locally or nationally was because of how passionate people are about our shared mission? Who doesn’t want to be part of helping improve lives and make the world a better place? Not our world but the world we bequeath to successive generations.
Isn’t that love? Giving your all, giving yourself so the world is just a little more just? So that the playing field of life is just a little more level, not just for me and you but for all?
In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius talks about the “Call of Christ the King.” It’s an imaginative, immersive prayer where you fantasize about some charismatic world leader. What if Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates showed up at your doorstep saying they had an idea that would feed the planet, or alleviate human suffering on a global scale, or cure cancer but that he or she needed YOU to make it happen? Would you turn them down or would you get excited about the possibility of being part of something profoundly transformative? Then, take the meditation to the next step: what if instead of one of those prominent influencers, what if the person inviting you was Jesus?
John Foley is a messenger. His entire vocation has been (and is) about inviting us to join in a truly wonderful undertaking – a movement that is not about him but about something bigger than all of us. It’s about a deep and abiding, passionate and compassionate, love. In the bible (1 John 4) it says, “God is love.” And more, “No one has ever seen God but if we love one another then God lives in us and his love is made perfect in us.” That is the Call of Christ the King, that is the invitation of John Foley, and that is the heart of the Cristo Rey movement.
¡VIVA CRISTO REY!
by admin | Jan 1, 2022 | President’s Pen
Earlier in December, our principal let me know that our AP English Literature class would be using the new stage instead of their normal classroom because they planned to read aloud and act out scenes from Hamlet. So, a few minutes into seventh period, I wandered over to the gym and was floored! The gym space was dark with only red backlighting on the stage. As I opened the door to slip in, there were two students up on stage reading and acting out the “get thee to a nunnery” scene between Hamlet and Ophelia. As my eyes adjusted, I saw the rest of the class sitting cross-legged on the floor watching intently – quiet, respectful, and completely engrossed in their classmates’ performance. I doubt they even knew I was there.
I’m an English Major from way back and my initial impression when I saw our students up there was to marvel at just how competent they were with Elizabethan English. Do you know how many times I would need to read a scene before my voice, inflections, and mannerisms reached the point where the scripted words would sound both sensible and effortless? Not sure I could ever rise to their level. Unpacking Shakespeare is tough enough for someone whose first language is English. Many of our students grew up in homes where Spanish was primary. Yet, here they were, giving exceptionally credible renditions of several scenes. Something may be rotten in Denmark, but these small bits of drama bore witness to wholesome accomplishments – so obviously the result of much hard work and attention by our students. It made me giddy.
I was transported back to our old campus where we had nothing… or at least, very little. It would have been impossible for a teacher to consider an alternative space to hold class. Nothing was available other than the one old, tired classroom to which she was allotted. Our new campus and new spaces open greater possibilities and it is incredibly gratifying, humbling even, to see faculty and students exploring the new potential.
Another afternoon in mid-December, I was working late. Understand that, in a school, most activities and athletic practices are over by 5:00 pm or 5:30 pm. The building is usually quiet but this weeknight I heard lively Ranchero music. Was someone streaming to a Bluetooth speaker? I started in the new Student Union, but it was dark and empty. Music and singing were coming from the cafeteria. Walking down the main hallway, the volume increased until I turned the corner. There, in the cafeteria, were students with instruments and more students and faculty accompanying them as a choir. They were practicing for our upcoming mass for the feast of La Virgen de Guadalupe. The song was “La Guadalupana,” a traditional song celebrating the miracle of Mary’s appearance as an indigenous Mexicana:
Desde el cielo una hermosa mañana
La Guadalupana
La Guadalupana bajó al Tepeyac.
Su llegada llenó de alegría
de luz y armonía
de luz y armonía y de libertad…
(From heaven, one beautiful morning
the Virgin of Guadalupe
the Virgin of Guadalupe descended to Tepeyac.
Her arrival brought happiness,
light and harmony
light and harmony and freedom…)
Despite COVID, CRSM is working on expanding our fine arts offerings this year. Our new art teacher and head of the art club mentioned that he thought we now had enough musically trained students to form our own mariachi. I had no idea they had come so far in so short a time. What a revelation to stand in our cafeteria and witness such joy!
The story of Guadalupe culminates with a double miracle: 1) roses grow on Tepeyac hill in the middle of winter, and 2) Mary appears on Juan Diego’s tilma or cloak and speaks to the Archbishop, humbling him who doubted the Mother of God would choose to speak through a powerless and marginalized campesino.
Despite the wintery challenges of this pandemic layered upon the ongoing economic challenges of living in a depressed community, our students are flourishing – developing and sharing their talents, preparing to become agents for positive change in our world. It is awesome and celebratory and inspiring. Thanks to so many donors and supporters like you, our new campus affords our students even more opportunities to discover more and more about themselves and their potential. We are witnessing so many moments of grace that were never dreamed of in our old facilities.
Our school Christmas card this year featured some graphic arts by one of our students who found inspiration in this quote: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you…” Ezekiel 36:26. Every day at CRSM feels like something new is happening. Creativity, community, possibility, and hope are alive here – walking through our halls, reciting Shakespeare, playing music and singing.
In a cold, desperate world roses are blooming at CRSM. May this Christmas season bring you light and happiness and freedom and may 2022 fill you and those you love with new hope and possibility. Peace and joy!
by admin | Nov 30, 2021 | President’s Pen
Sometimes small occurrences combine in such a way that saying it is just a coincidence is an entirely insufficient explanation. In certain moments, Providence plays a hand and for a brief second you sense that God really is actively working in our world through those around us. At Cristo Rey St. Martin, it seems we are offered more of these moments then most. Probably because we are surrounded daily by talented young people working toward a better future for themselves, their families, and our world. In the spirit of Thanksgiving and with the Hope so integral to Advent, I want to share one of those recent moments witnessed here at CRSM.
Earlier this month, one of our sophomores contacted our Campus Ministry office expressing interest in doing something for others. She was motivated by an event that took place last year at this time in late November/early December. CRSM was in a hybrid schedule at that time and students were only able to come to school two days per week – that is how Rosa and her classmates spent their entire freshmen year at CRSM – but, because she is a thoughtful and compassionate person and because her parents are, too, and because maybe her limited time at CRSM still stressed the importance of being a community of “persons for others,” Rosa described her thinking as follows: “Last year around November or December we saw a man in front of our house and he came to knock on our door to ask for a blanket since it was cold outside. My mom gave him a bed comforter we had and we also gave him a jacket and a hat.” Since it was getting cold again, she thought of that person and then thought he and people like him would be in need again this year.
“Since winter is coming up, I want to do a type of fundraiser or charity thing for the homeless. What I was thinking about was a fundraiser and maybe from that money we can buy some winter essentials, such as jackets, blankets, boots, gloves, scarfs, hats, socks etc. I know that during the winter a lot of homeless people have trouble with this… I don’t know if you are able to help in any way with this or if you can maybe help me look for something to volunteer for?”
Wouldn’t you know it but the very same morning that Rosa reached out, our Campus Minister was contacted by an organization called Cool Ministries. “Rosa came to me shortly after a gentleman from COOL food pantry here in Waukegan had contacted us to see if we’d be willing to host a supply drive for veterans this November.” So, Rosa and about 4 or 5 other sophomores headed up the weeks-long project to collect toilet paper, body soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, laundry detergent, shampoo so that veterans in crisis could also get these special items when they came to the pantry to get food.
I’m reminded of what Jesus said around the table at the Last Supper in John’s gospel:
“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
May we all be touched by some experience with others – by some chance encounter with a stranger perhaps – and may that be the seed that motivates us to do something out of love. May that seed grow and grow to motivate us to do even more until all we know is love. And by that love others will know God.
