Alumni News & Events

Fr. Foley featured in Newsweek Magazine’s “Who’s Next 2007” List

Cristo Rey founder and former president of CRJHS, Fr. John Foley, SJ, was featured in Newsweek magazine’s 2006 end-of-year issue as one of the “Who’s Next 2007” list.  In the article, Fr. Foley describes Cristo Rey’s humble beginnings just 10 years ago as well as the evolution of the Corporate Internship Program.  “Thanks largely to the work-study program and a rigorous curriculum, Cristo Rey has succeeded where so many others fail: the four-year dropout rate for the network's graduation class this year was 6 percent, and 96 percent enrolled in a two- or four-year college this fall.”  Read the full story.

New “Smart Boards” go up in CR Classrooms

Through a grant from the Big Shoulders Fund and the Chicago Community Trust, Cristo Rey is the beneficiary of 3 “smart” boards that are now in place in three classrooms.  Smart boards, which are the size of a pane of chalk board, allow interactive teaching with multimedia.  “They’re essentially a touch-screen computer interface,” says religion teacher and Jesuit Scholastic, Mark Luedtke.  “Teachers can flip through different elements of their lesson plan without setting up different multimedia equipment.  A great benefit, too, is that teachers can then print off or email the day’s lesson content for students who are absent.  Smart boards are a great way to engage students and maximize teacher effectiveness in the classroom.”  While three classrooms currently use smart boards, plans are in place to have three more rooms outfitted with the boards in the near future.