Comstock's magazine 0919 - September 2019 | Page 97

CAPITAL REGION CARES
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
C risto R ey H igh S chool
College ready, career prepared.
C
risto Rey High School Sacramento provides a quality Catholic
college-preparatory education to students who have limited
financial resources, and a unique work study component
enriches students’ lives beyond their academic accomplishments.
Every student works five days per month, gaining valuable
experience in jobs at medical facilities, construction companies, law
firms, lobbying firms, marketing and public relations businesses,
local government, and more.
For the 2019-20 school year, Cristo Rey has more than 380
students enrolled in ninth through 12th grades. This past spring, 87
seniors graduated and 100 percent of them were accepted to at least
one college. Nearly 70 percent chose a four-year university, including
Sacramento State, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UCLA and, for the first
time, a Cristo Rey graduate has been accepted at Stanford University.
“Covering 60 percent of our budget, the work study relationships
between our students and the business community are Cristo Rey’s
financial engine,” says Cristo Rey’s President, David Perry, Ed.D.
“Students work to offset the cost of their education as well as to
obtain critical insight into the job market and their futures. Our work
study program has more than 115 business partners, including 10
new ones, so we continue to grow.”
About 80 percent of student-work positions are paid by the
businesses receiving the students’ services, while the remaining
students work at nonprofits, with a few of those positions funded by
local organizations who believe in the program. “We try to convert
the unfunded positions into paid positions,” says Perry, “and look to
our business community and philanthropic organizations to help us
do that.”
Cristo Rey is a key workforce development partner for the
Sacramento region. “We’re developing this region’s next generation
of workforce through our college prep academics and, in partnership
with businesses, our work study program,” concludes Perry. “We will
continue to partner with as many organizations as possible to serve
students who otherwise wouldn’t have these opportunities.”
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September 2019 | comstocksmag.com
97