Cristo Rey Boston High School students work tirelessly during the school year in both their academics and in their Corporate Work Study positions. This summer, students interested in getting a head start on their classes or improving their GPA joined students from other schools at the Cambridge Harvard Summer Academy (CHSA). The focus for most students at the CHSA is on academic enrichment, rather than credit recovery. This program, at no cost to students, began ten years ago for Cambridge residents, and has since expanded to students from more distant communities including Lexington, Newton, and Revere.

 

 

As students took several weeks during the summer to prepare for their corporate positions, Cristo Rey Boston High School's faculty and staff found ways to be better at theirs. The school has incorporated several highly successful professional development workshops in an effort to provide the best

possible education for our students.

 

Two days were utilized for SpringBoard Professional Development. SpringBoard is a comprehensive program implemented across the curriculum that was developed by College Board. SpringBoard is designed so that students are enabled to build the skills and understanding they need for success in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and college-level work. The program has an emphasis on rigorous English and mathematics lessons for all students up through grade 12. We are the first school in Boston implementing SpringBoard, the official pre-AP curriculum of College Board.

Teaching strategies using Uncommon Schools were covered for two days as well. Uncommon Schools is a charter school movement, mainly practiced in New York. Staff from Cristo Rey Boston have become aware of this thanks to connections through the Cristo Rey Network. This past spring, Cristo Rey Boston teachers Carrie Gilmore, Jill McHugh, and Paula Lopes attended a two-day Uncommon Schools workshop in Albany, New York. There, they learned to identify instinctual techniques of "champion" teachers. These techniques, including the best ways to speak to students and provide directions, have great effects on the atmosphere of the classroom.

The strong emphasis on professional development will continue at Cristo Rey Boston High School as these methods, as well as others such as teaching with primary sources, are strongly emphasized in the curriculum.

Business leaders from the Seaport and Fort Point Channel community attended a networking breakfast to introduce Cristo Rey Boston High School's move to Boston on Tuesday June 29, 2010. The event, hosted by the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley presented the Cristo Rey Boston Corporate Work Study Program as a successful option for entry level administrative staffing. 

Cristo Rey Boston President Jeff Thielman, United Way President and CEO Michael Durkin, Board Chair Thomas P. O'Neill III, and Sinclair Fashaw, '11

 

At the event, over 70 students and current Corporate Partners mixed with potential partners interested in getting to know what the school and its Corporate Work Study Program have to offer.  Among Cristo Rey Boston Corporate Partners who spoke were Michael Durkin, President and CEO of United Way and host of the event, Thomas P. O'Neill III, CEO of O'Neill and Associates, James E. Rooney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and Paul Lonergan, President of Congress Wealth Management. Speaking of his experience with the Corporate Work Study Program, Lonergan noted, "The first week our students were a little timid and unaware of their surroundings, but after that first week they took the reins and did extremely great work for us. Employing Cristo Rey students not only improves a company's social capital, but increases production at the same time."
 
Cristo Rey Boston's own Sinclair Fashaw, Class of 2011, was the closing speaker at the event. Sinclair has job-shared a full-time entry level position with three other Cristo Rey students at PricewaterhouseCoopers for his entire high school career.  Appreciative of the experience, he noted, "I want to thank my co-workers at PricewaterhouseCoopers and everyone at Cristo Rey Boston who have helped me gain valuable professional experience at this major corporation. It is challenging me to think about my education in relation to my future career. Cristo Rey Boston's combination of college prep courses and professional work experience challenges me to be my best both in the classroom and at my corporate job." Sinclair had many classmates in attendance to support and cheer him on. Diedre Lofton '11, Katiuska Fernandez '11, Lina Lujan '10 and Maurico Acosta '11 all attended the event as a chance to represent the school's student body and speak to potential partners about the benefits of the program.

School Board Chair and Corporate Partner, Mr. O'Neill, closed the event with a final thanks to all in attendance. Receiving recognition was Diane Dragoff, Procurement and Facilities Manager of the United Way, for all her hard work coordinating the event. Michael O'Brien, Marketing Manager for Catholic Charities, won the "door prize", a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant Gargoyles on the Square located in Davis Square. We give special thanks to the United Way for being such gracious hosts. Thank you to everyone who attended and made this event a success! We hope to see you at our next function.

The amazing transformation of the former St. William's School into Cristo Rey Boston High School has continued throughout the summer with even more assistance from volunteers. This August, Boston Cares organized 150 volunteers who contributed their services in landscaping, cleaning lockers, painting hallways, and building benches. To date, 576 volunteers have combined for more than 3500 hours of hard work for the renovation of 100 Savin Hill Avenue.