For 25 years, Cristo Rey taken a holistic approach to the application process. There is no required entrance exam. Rather, prospective students are interviewed for admission by faculty and staff. Through the initial application and interview, new students are considered based on the Characteristics of a Cristero: motivation and maturity; open to Catholic religious values; employable; earned grades of C or above; of low to moderate income; demonstrated strong discipline and attendance record; comfortable conversing with adults; able to understand and speak Spanish.

These interviews traditionally take place over one weekend every March and make up one of the most important events on the Cristo Rey campus each year. This year’s Admissions Weekend was no different in scope except, for the first time in the school’s history, the interviews were not in person!

Over the weekend of March 6 and 7, Cristo Rey faculty and staff interviewed almost 200 aspiring Cristeros, and their parents, over 30-minute intervals through Microsoft Teams. Teams of two faculty and staff members each evaluated prospective students on the Characteristics of a Cristero, both in English and Spanish. The teams then spoke with the student’s parents to answer questions and provide feedback.

Director of Admissions Blanca Gonzalez has been organizing Admissions Weekend for Cristo Rey for the past 17 years reflects that “Interview Weekend went really well despite the circumstances,” Gonzalez said. “By now," she recognized, "people have been living in the virtual world for a year, so they were much more familiar with videoconferencing and things went really smoothly. Teachers, parents, and students were so flexible and accommodating. Of course, we missed meeting the families face to face, but even virtually, families commented on feeling welcomed and could really feel the excitement and friendliness of our staff. I’m really proud of how it went.”  

Acceptances went out on April 1 to 158 students who will make up the Class of 2025. These students come from 66 different schools and 21 different Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs. Applications for the Class of 2025 are still currently being accepted.

Each day at Cristo Rey, biliterate students engage in both English and Spanish academic language coursework. To support this transformative "Spanish heritage language" curriculum and overcome the national book ownership divide faced by our community, the Lavelle Media Center at Cristo Rey features a collection of nearly 8,000 physical items, approximately two-thirds in English and one-third in Spanish.

With Cristo Rey sustaining its unique mission through rigorous, synchronous remote learning and work-study programming on school-provided computers, during the first half of the year, student access to books posed a challenge.

Librarian Ms. Toth and Assistant Librarian Ms. Posadas ensured the Library continued to provide students access to books during remote learning by collaborating with teachers, allowing students to reserve books online for pickup at the school, and supporting our independent reading program and student Book Club. 

With all students now in possession of a Microsoft Surface laptop and able to access the internet from home, Ms. Toth expanded eBook and digital audiobook selections through a generous grant from the Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE). Grant funding allowed Ms. Toth to double the digital collection and help sustain effective hybrid learning through the second semester.

Thank you to the dedication of our Library staff and to AISLE for supporting our mission.

To keep Cristo Rey students engaged in professional development while in-person job assignments are on hold for public health concerns, the Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) team has implemented extensive programming for students at every grade level.  Most recently, Deloitte professionals joined in - leading a CWSP Speaker Series event for 30 freshmen and senior students who opted to participate.

The Speaker Series provides an opportunity for CWSP Partners to present to students on a topic they feel passionately about sharing.  The Deloitte team focused their program on early career development and invited three professionals who are recent college graduates to serve on a panel. 

The Deloitte team presented on the audit & assurance business and advisory businesses of the organization in relatable terms, noting that relationships with clients and team members are always at the forefront of their work. Freshman student Emily, who is eagerly awaiting the day when she can go to her first CWSP job, enjoyed hearing from the professionals, especially on how to pick a college major.  Emily explains, “One thing I learned from the event is that you may have trouble deciding what you may what to study, but go with what you find interesting.” 

Senior Alize asked questions during the panel and was impressed by the walkthrough of the data analytics process: “I think my favorite part was being able to hear them, one-on-one, about their experience in their workplace, especially because heading off to college you don’t know what to expect.” She added, “I want to major in business, and I think it was a great opportunity to ask and hear what they have to say and take their advice. I have a statistics class now, so it was interesting actually knowing what some of them were talking about when telling us about how they analyze data using a scatter plot or box plot graph.” 

Cristo Rey is extremely grateful to have Deloitte, a CWSP Partner for more than a decade, share in creative student professional development during this mostly-virtual year. CWSP Partners like Deloitte are helping to prepare the next generation of Chicago’s workforce through this career preparatory programming. 

Over the coming months, CWSP’s plans include expanding remote work opportunities, Microsoft Excel certification exams, and a career-prep module with opportunities for corporate partners to join in. 

If you or your company would like to help, contact Taylor Sticha (tsticha@cristorey.net), Manager of Corporate Engagement.