Celebrating 130 Years
I’d been teaching at ICA for more than two
decades when my colleagues and I heard in
2007 that the Dominican Sisters of Mission
San Jose had launched the study that would
culminate in ICA’s joining the Cristo Rey
Network as a full-fledged member in 2009.
I remember feeling both hopeful that the
change would provide a needed boost for the
school and a renewed focus on Mother Pia’s
mission of educating “the young, the poor and
the vulnerable,” and at the same time fearful
that the whole enterprise could prove a
colossal miscalculation.
The past five years have not been easy, or
smooth, or without pain and loss. They have
been rocky, fraught with worry and sleepless
nights. But they’ve also been inspiring, creative,
invigorating, and, ultimately, successful beyond
what I ever imagined.
Now, as I watch girls grow into self-assured
young women bound for college and careers, I
know that the Sisters’ bold step back in 2007
was transformational in ways none of us could
have foreseen.
When asked what ICA’s greatest strength
was, a former colleague used to explain that
we take young women where we find them
on their educational journey and bring them
along as far as they’re willing to let us. I always
liked that explanation. We don’t always get
young women with the strongest educational
backgrounds. But we build on what they do
have, challenge them to expand their interests
and abilities, and encourage them to realize
that they need not limit their dreams if they’re
willing to work hard.
When I came here in the fall of 1976, we had
a strong business department as well as a
college preparatory track. ICA has changed
So, is ICA today a different school from
the one I walked into in August, 1981?
Yes, of course it is. No, of course it isn’t.
The uniforms look different, the girls are
educated in the workplace as well as the
classroom, the bells ring at different times,
and there are computers everywhere. But the
Dominican pillars of prayer, study, community
and preaching still underlie and guide every
decision at ICA.
As ICA celebrates its 130th birthday, I feel
proud of the path we’ve all walked together
and unshakably optimistic about our future.
Mother Pia may have departed this world,
but her vision is carried forward every day
by the Mission San Jose Dominicans, the
administration, teachers and staff of ICA, the
parents who entrust their daughters to us, and
the young women who have flourished beyond
all expectations in this Cristo Rey School in
the Dominican tradition.
~Mary Cerutti
Assistant Principal
and adapted over the years an