Read More. - Cristo Rey Columbus High School

Cristo Rey Columbus High School opening doors to
underprivileged learners
Brian R. Ball
Staff reporterBusiness First
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Columbus attorney Jim Foley recalls
growing up in low-income housing in
Youngstown and Akron with little prospect
of becoming the first in his family to attend
college.
“I had an eighth-grade teacher who steered
me into a college-prep education,” he said,
noting that parochial school education led
him to the University of Notre Dame for his
undergraduate degree four years later.
The formative experience prompted Foley,
who spent 30 years at Vorys Sater
Seymour & Pease LLP in Columbus, to
leave his business litigation practice to
become president of the Cristo Rey
Columbus High School. The school will
begin offering a similar education to
students from low- and moderate-income
households this August. That’s when a
class of more than 100 freshmen will begin
college-preparatory schooling coupled with
work experience in Central Ohio
businesses.
“This is the opportunity for us to be that
Cathy Thomas, who was founding principal at a Cristo
Rey school in Houston, will lead the Columbus institution.
eighth-grade teacher,” Foley said,
“encouraging people to go a college-prep
school and then go to a college.”
Learning On the job
Columbus will mark the 26th Cristo Rey Network school this summer, when classes begin at
840 W. State St. near Mount Carmel West Hospital. It will operate in that Columbus Dioceseowned building until renovations are completed at the former Ohio School for the Deaf
building at 400 E. Town St. for the 2014-15 school year.
The program calls for four students to share a single job in a professional environment, both
to learn what it takes to work in an office and to generate financial support for their
schooling. The students work from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. one day a week and one Friday per
month.
Foley said all of the area’s Catholic high schools offer college tracks for those seeking
professional careers. Cristo Rey, however, requires the internships that also underwrite the
cost of the education.
Families will pay between $200 and $2,500 a year in tuition – it will be based on their
household income – while each student will earn $6,500 a year on the job to cover the cost
of schooling.
Scholarships and gifts will defray the remaining expenses.
“The thing that is distinctive is the work-study program,” Foley said. “It’s the secret sauce.”
The work and school aspects aim to reinforce each other.
“Our students use work to learn and are learning to work,” he said.
Cristo Rey Columbus Principal Cathy Thomas said the students will get workplace training
before the school year starts on how to use office software and answer phones. The
program also focuses on job expectations, including the “hidden rules” of office etiquette.
“It’s a new environment where they don’t feel comfortable,” said Thomas, who was the
founding principal at the Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School in Houston and was
working in a similar middle school program in Brownsville, Texas, before joining the
Columbus Cristo Rey effort.
A lot of discussion goes into dressing for work and acting professionally, she said.
Cristo Rey “gives students a good sense of how to conduct themselves,” she said, “and
how to have meaningful conversations with adults.”
Part of that includes encouraging the students to be proactive on the job.
“It tells students, ‘Ask for work and ask for help.’ And when you’re finished, ask them if you
did what they asked you to do and how can you improve,” Thomas said.
Gaining support
The school has attracted 21 of the minimum of 25 employers needed to support the base of
100 or more freshmen expected to enroll this year. Carolyn Flahive, the school’s professional
work-study director, said the employers include manufacturers, insurers, law firms and
banks.
“There’s a wonderful variety,” said Flahive, formerly a Thompson Hine LLP attorney. “We’ve
been fortunate the business community has responded.”
Cristo Rey schools boast graduation rates of 97 percent and 98 percent of all 2012
graduates enrolled in two- or four-year colleges. It’s a performance level that encouraged
Columbus insurer Nationwide to create two intern jobs for Cristo Rey Columbus students.
“This is one of those programs which is proven,” said Rocky Parker, Nationwide’s vice
president of talent acquisition. “How can you not want to be part of a something that’s so
successful?”
Commerce National Bank plans to have four students working there spend half the day
taking care of mail and non-cash deposits and the rest of the time in the marketing
department. The latter involves keeping the bank’s database up to date, creating PDFs and
filing documents.
“I think the students will benefit,” said Jennifer Griffith, regional president at Newark-based
Commerce National. “As they grow, we think the job will grow.”
Sense of mission
The Columbus Diocese heard of how a Cristo Rey school could impact Columbus about five
years ago. Superintendent Lucia McQuaide said the diocese’s bishop, the Rev.Frederick
Campbell, gave the OK for a study of the concept out of his concerns for those living in
urban neighborhoods.
Campbell had come from Minneapolis, which also houses a Cristo Rey school.
“From there, we started to put the pieces together,” McQuaide said.
The program expands the availability of a Catholic education to those who might otherwise
be unable to afford it.
“It’s really another opportunity for parents who’d like to have their children attend a faith-
based school,” she said.
Foley said the opportunity to hire Thomas was key given her experience in the start of the
Houston school.
“It has helped having a principal who’s been there and done that,” he said.
Thomas’ husband had just learned he would be transferred to a U.S. Department of
Agriculture job at Ohio State University when the parochial school opened up its search.
“All the people I’ve hired are very mission-oriented,” Foley said. “We have an opportunity to
share and we feel blessed by that opportunity.”
Foley was drawn to Cristo Rey after he completed serving as chairman of the localCatholic
Social Services board and wanted to find another community outreach program where he
could serve. The opportunity to change careers did not occur to him before the Cristo Rey
executive job presented itself.
“We kicked it around and said a little prayer,” Foley said.
The move had as much to do with reason as it did with faith given Cristo Rey’s solid track
record, he said.
“It was not just about hopes; it’s about accomplishments,” Foley said. “You don’t leave a
great job for a mere possibility.”
Brian R. Ball covers real estate, allied construction industries, development and the hospitality and hotel
sectors for Business First.