Cristo Rey is Reimagining Education in Atlanta

Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School is a Catholic learning community in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. This Arete Scholars partner school seeks to educate young people of limited economic means to become men and women for and with others. Through a robust college preparatory curriculum combined with practical work-study opportunities, Cristo Rey Atlanta equips its students to graduate prepared not only for college and a successful career but, above all, for a life well-lived.

It is a purpose that Camille Naughton, the President of Cristo Rey Atlanta, cherishes.

"I love this school's mission," she says. "It's so powerful, and even more so, it's the people we serve. This school is a vehicle for how we provide entire families with dignity, hope, and opportunity."

It's a function made possible thanks to several scholarship-granting organizations, SGOs like Arete Scholars.

Camille has been a vital part of the school since its inception and continues to be an integral champion of the amazing work taking place there. As one of the school's first employees, she spent a year working with a small team to raise awareness and funding necessary to establish a Cristo Rey school in Atlanta. In July 2014, the school opened as the 28th in the Cristo Rey Network.

"We were just trying to get the word out because no one knew who we were," Camille says. "We spent a year raising a lot of money to start the school, and in 2014, we welcomed our first freshmen class."

After just one year, the need for a larger building arose. As Vice President of Advancement and Corporate Partnerships, Camille was tasked with raising more than $30 million needed to build the permanent school campus at 222 Piedmont Ave.

The student body at Cristo Rey Atlanta is diverse. The school welcomes students from various parts of the world. Some are first-generation Americans, many becoming the first in their families to attend college. Approximately half of the students identify as Catholic, and the gender distribution is a nearly equal 50-50 split. Despite their varied backgrounds, one common thread among Cristo Rey Atlanta's students is their shared experience transitioning from failing schools.

"We know that when there's chaos in the classroom, it's hard for any kid to learn, but we don't have chaos," says Camille. "Cristo Rey is a very well-run college prep school, and we prepare our students for the next step in their educational journey."

Reimagining Urban Education

Despite the economic, social, and academic challenges many students who attend Cristo Rey Atlanta face, Camille is proud to point out that 100% of the graduating seniors are accepted into college every year. This is owed not only to the superb educational instruction, character formation, and holistic nurturing of students but also to one of the Cristo Rey Network's most unique and beneficial offerings-an innovative Corporate Work-Study Program that employs every student who attends.

In this program, students work one day per week at over 130 companies across the Metro Atlanta area. These companies pay program fees that support the Corporate Work-Study Program and enable Cristo Rey Atlanta to serve families who might not otherwise afford a private high school education.

Through this Corporate Work-Study Program, students gain valuable real-world job skills, contacts, and experience that cannot be replicated in the classroom alone. Job partners benefit from increased workplace morale due to motivated student interns who actively participate in mentoring. The outcomes for the nearly 500 students aged 14 to 18 who attend Cristo Rey Atlanta are remarkable.

Student workers acquire boosted self-esteem and confidence alongside improved work ethic, motivation, curiosity, and critical thinking skills. They also gain valuable job experience and marketable professional skills through exposure to diverse career opportunities and educational paths. They develop social capital by building a network of mentors and professional contacts while linking their academic efforts with future education goals and career aspirations.

"We also move our students every year so that by the time they graduate, they have four years of corporate work experience that they take with them into college and beyond," says Camille. "They have LinkedIn profiles, business cards, and experience with the Microsoft suite-Word, Excel, and PowerPoint."

The invaluable resume-building work experience students gain surpasses many college-bound peers and substantially benefits their corporate partners. While the Corporate Work-Study Program generates $4.5 million in annual revenue for the school, the corporate partners receive significant returns on their investment.

"The company partners pay us for a team of students, and that money helps to offset the tuition cost for all of the students in that team," she adds.

Students contribute as energetic, tech-savvy young talent, diversifying the workforce pipeline, which, in turn, offers the potential for less experienced staff to gain management opportunities while mentoring students who wouldn't otherwise have this chance. Moreover, supervisors can delegate administrative or basic tasks to students, thus enhancing team workflow.

Nationwide, the network of Cristo Rey schools is reimagining urban education in the United States by collaborating with over 3,200 businesses and connecting more than 12,000 students with real-world professional work opportunities. These schools are the only high schools nationwide to effectively merge four years of rigorous college preparatory academics with four years of practical work experience through the Corporate Work-Study Program.

"They work a full day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. one day a week, and they have a traditional college prep curriculum, but they have to do it all in four days instead of five," explains Camille. "Ultimately, it's a longer school day and a longer school year for them."

"So it's not easy," she adds. "Our kids work really hard, but they know what the prize is at the end if they do."

That prize is priceless workforce development. It's access to college, unique advantages and opportunities, and a life of both professional and economic mobility.

Showing Up Is A Win

"When they go to work, they go by themselves," says Camille. "So if you're 14 years old and you show up for your first day of work and you have to take the elevator to the top floor of one of these downtown corporate buildings, you've already won by the time you get there. You figured out how to get on the train or the bus, how to get there, and then you're there all day by yourself, and you're 14, and everyone else is 40. So, they learn to act like 40-year-olds in a professional work setting. They go and do it on their own, and the confidence a 14-year-old gains from being able to do all of that is unbelievable."

"By the time they apply for college, their application has four different jobs listed on it," she says. "I think one of the reasons so many of our students are accepted into college is that these admissions officers see a kid with four unique work experiences at reputable companies, and it stands out among the stack of other applications."

Another benefit of the corporate work-study program is that it exposes students to various professions and careers. According to Camille, it helps to open their eyes so that by the time they begin college, they better understand what degree they want to pursue and, ultimately, what type of career path to follow.

"They gain so much confidence and realize the relevance of their education," she says.

For many first-year high school students, a career is, at best, a far-off dream-a hard-to-imagine or hard-to-articulate idea. But, for the students at Cristo Rey Atlanta, the Corporate Work Study Program shows them exactly what it looks like to have a career and gives them exposure to people who can mentor them toward a meaningful and successful vocational path.

Curapersonalis - Care for the Whole Person

Now, more than ever, it is vital that families have the freedom to choose the best education environment for their children. The Arete Scholars model recognizes the holistic journey of academic formation and personal growth, ultimately empowering children to reach their greatest, God-given potential.

One key value in Jesuit education and a core belief at Cristo Rey Atlanta is the concept of Curapersonalis. It's a Latin phrase meaning "care for the person." It signifies concern for and care for the personal development of the whole person and implies a dedication to promoting human dignity and caring for an individual's mind, body, and spirit.

It is a highly prized value for Camille and her staff at Cristo Rey. Their priority is not just building up good kids-though very important to them-but forming good adults and, ultimately, good citizens. Cristo Rey is in the business of developing young people who are brimming with humanity, empathy, and love for their neighbors.

"We look at our students in a spiritual way, a physical way, an emotional way, and an academic way," she says. "All of these aspects of a young person must be cared for. You can't focus only on one or two. If you do, the other areas of their lives will suffer."

"We're creating citizens at Cristo Rey," she says. "We're developing husbands, wives, and parents. That's what we're in the business of here at Cristo Rey. In truth, we're developing people, and those people will go out and touch countless lives. That's the part we need to do really well with here."

"Calculus is great, but humanity is better," Camille laughs.

Ultimately, Camille's dream for Cristo Rey Atlanta is simple: "We need these students to be the kids God intends them to be," she says.

"They have so many skills and talents, and if they're attending schools where they are just waiting for the bell to ring at the end of the day so they can survive it, you're leaving all this talent on the sideline. And that's the sin in all of this. We have 500 students at Cristo Rey Atlanta, but hundreds of thousands of kids need schools like ours to help them-in a safe and controlled learning environment-get to where they need to be as students and as people."

Together, We Are Stronger

Camille quickly points out that schools and students can't do it alone. They need partners-teams of people who believe in them and refuse to accept the status quo in America's educational system-allies who recognize that better education is not only possible but necessary for the good of our country. Camille has found a committed partnership with Arete Scholars and its dedicated supporters, who, together, provide the funding that makes the dream of a private school education a reality for so many of Cristo Rey's students.

"Arete's supporters are investing in a population that has been disregarded and underserved at great expense to this country," Camille says. "These kids are truly amazing, and the fact that they've been left on the sidelines because they were born in the wrong zip code-that costs us money as a country."

"Arete is changing the trajectory of the lives of my students and, at the same time, the entire family," Camille shares. "Together, we are investing in the future of our cities and communities. An Arete scholarship empowers impressive young people who are otherwise being failed by the system, and we're all better off for that."

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