Cristo Rey Fort Worth High School conducted its annual corporate work-study draft day in an auditorium on its campus on Altamesa Boulevard on Thursday afternoon.
It’s a special event, particularly for 70 incoming freshmen, the school’s biggest class since opening in 2018.
It certainly had the feel of something special as an overflow audience of parents, corporate sponsors, teachers, and school personnel provided sui generis energy, in a class of its own, using pompoms, plastic hand clappers, and shouts of encouragement to turn it into something kinetic.
But it should be special, considering the mission of the school — disrupting generational cycles of poverty through a Catholic faith-based college preparatory curriculum integrated with a work-study program.
This mission requires energy and enthusiasm. Check those off with the MavsManiAACS and the Mariachi Arraigo de America helping put mood rings on the right color.
Cristo Rey was founded in Chicago in 1996 by Jesuits, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, to serve students from underserved, low income families. The network has grown to 35 schools across the country, including Dallas and Houston.
Cristo Rey came to Fort Worth at the invitation of Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth.
According to Cristo Rey Fort Worth, the network partners with more than 3,200 businesses nationwide, including 70 in Fort Worth.
The goal at the Fort Worth campus is to get to about 350 students. To go that high would require additions at the current campus or a move, says Dani Ray Barton, the school’s director of the corporate work study program.
Cristo Rey’s work-study model involves local business and corporate partners, which cover about 50% of the tuition to the school through a sponsorship of students they select to come work for them one day a week throughout the school year. The students’ work at the companies that “drafted” them earn their tuition while gaining real-life experience.
When companies sign on to the Cristo Rey mission, “it’s very altruistic at the beginning,” says Barton. “They want to help these kids. But they quickly realize the kids bring value to the workplace: a skill-set, an ability to do things, and they bring a different perspective. They also realize they’re investing in their talent pipeline. It’s a win-win.”
It’s also a great way to advance diversity in the office space.
The balance of tuition is paid through the school’s development efforts and the students’ families. Parents are required to pay something, though it’s based on a sliding scale. Families with higher incomes play more than those with lower incomes.
“It’s a sacrifice, but one they’re willing to pay,” Barton says of the school’s parents. “A lot of our families take extra jobs to make sure their kids can be here.”
The results appear to demonstrate the value.
Cristo Rey graduated its first class in the spring, a class of 48. All of them have gone onto college, Ray says, adding that in total, the class brought in more in more than $8 million in scholarship offers.
“We love it,” says Dulce Aguilar, whose daughter Adawna Vasquez was part of that first class and whose son Edgar Vasquez will be part of the second. Adawna, now a student at Tarrant County College, worked at Higginbotham. Edgar was waiting to see where he would be placed this year.
Barton estimated that half of the students in the first class planned to study something in the fields in which they worked in high school. It’s hard to tell and it will likely change as the journey of college progresses.
She noted, however, the transferable skills, and cited as an example one student who now plans to study medicine after a working at Cook Children’s Medical Center but had also worked two years at Pinnacle Bank.
“She told me that the customer service experience she got at Pinnacle Bank will help how she interacts with patients,” Barton says.
This real-life exposure also gives students a good understanding of “all these pieces and parts that make an organization run.”
This year’s business and corporate partners grew to 70, up from 56 a year ago and 18 from the first year. Barton says the school is expecting that number to grow to 85 or 90 next year.
Alcon came on board this year and is hiring three teams of students. General Motors is a returnee but increased its number of sponsorships. So, too, did Baylor Scott & White, Barton says.
Longtime sports anchor John Rhadigan of Bally Sports Southwest served as the MC. Annette Landeros, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Marc Istook, an anchor for WFAA/Ch. 8, and Steve Lamb, a radio personality with WBAP, provided commentary of the students’ qualities, just as analysts would the qualities and characteristics of players drafted into a sports league.
Barton joked that one never knows what they’re getting into witnessing the draft for the first time. That’s all true. It’s quite an event.
But it works, particularly for such an important undertaking as Cristo Rey Fort Worth and its partners have taken on.
Fort Worth partners
Acme Brick
The Advancement Foundation
Alcon
Alliance Airport
All Saints Catholic School
Amon Carter Museum
Baird
Bank of America
Bank of Texas
Baylor Scott & White
BRIT
Brogdon Foundation
Byrne Construction
Casa Mañana
Catholic Charities Fort Worth
CH4 Energy
Christ's Haven Children’s Home
CompuLabs
Cook Children's Medical Center
Cooper Natural Resources
Dallas Federal Home Loan Bank
Dunaway
Charles and Debora Morrison Foundation
The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth
Finley Resources
Fort Construction
Fort Worth Botanic Gardens
The Fort Worth Club
Fort Worth Report
GM
GM Financial
Goodwill North Central Texas
Higginbotham
Hillwood Properties
J Taylor
James West Center
Kelly Hart
KPMG
The Ladder Alliance
Meador Auto Group
Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County
NurseCore
Oncor Origin Bank
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church
Pine Wave Energy Partners
Pinnacle Bank
St. George Catholic School
St. John Catholic School
Tarrant Regional Water District
Tarrant County Community College
TCU
Texas A&M Law School
Texas Health Resources
Texland Petroleum
The Nelrod Company
Tijerina Galvan Lawrence LLC
TPG
Village Homes
VLK Architects
Weaver
Wildcatter Red-Mix
Wingstop