Members of the first graduating class of Cristo Rey Richmond High School, all of whom received acceptance to college.
After walking across the graduation stage this past spring, millions of high school students are taking the next step and heading off to college. It’s a momentous occasion for teens everywhere, but it is an especially noteworthy accomplishment for Cristo Rey Richmond High School, where every member of its 2023 senior class received not only a diploma but also acceptance to college.
“While other schools work towards high school graduation, our goal is actually college graduation. Finishing high school is a step along the way for our students; 100% of our seniors got accepted to college, and some of them had many offers to choose from. We support our students all the way through college, and it is when they walk across a college or university stage that our work is done,” says Lynn Waidelich, principal and chief academic officer at Cristo Rey.
Founding Principal and former Chief Academic Officer Corey Taylor echoes this sentiment. “We guarantee to students and family that we are going to do everything we can to ensure that you walk across that stage with college acceptance in hand.”
For Cristo Rey educators and students, this entails a rigorous application process to assess readiness and additional skill-building courses. Every freshman and sophomore takes a student success class to work with instructors on social-emotional, organizational and planning skills, and study sessions. Juniors and seniors are enrolled in a college success course to focus on college personal statements and research projects, consider the types of colleges they want to apply to, and begin the application process.
The school is part of the Cristo Rey Network, founded by Father John P. Foley in 2001 and based on the college-preparatory high school for underprivileged students he launched in Chicago in 1996. There are now 38 member schools across the country; the Richmond campus, opened in 2019, is one of the newest. This year’s graduating class of 54 students was the school’s first.
Cristo Rey Richmond’s director of college counseling and alumni advising, Janice Walker, who’s also an independent educational consultant through her company, Thee College Navigator, works closely with students and their parents throughout the application process. She says approximately 95% of Cristo Rey’s graduates are first-generation college students who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Their parents often don’t know the application process or are working and don’t have time to devote to it.
“I help students to revise and formulate ideas for their personal statement essay. I read all of them,” Walker says. “I provide feedback to ensure that students are being their authentic selves and being vulnerable and providing a college advisor with the information they need to see that student individually and see what it is that they could offer to their college.”
To further support students, the Cristo Rey Network has partnered with colleges throughout the country to provide scholarships. “Last year we had a total of 72 college and university partners. This year we have 75. Catholic University of America gave four of our students full-tuition scholarships, and all four of them will be attending in the fall. University of Richmond is a local partner. Three students were accepted, and two are attending with all expenses paid,” Walker says. Students are required to apply to at least 12 colleges, three of which are university partners.
In addition to this rigorous prep work, Walker says Cristo Rey’s corporate work-study program sets its students apart from others when applying to college. “Some students can say they worked a job at a fast-food place or retail, but [our students] worked at Dominion Energy or Bon Secours or Molina Healthcare, learning about mental health issues, how to become a doctor or nurse or health care practitioner, working with a law office and understanding what it is like to become a lawyer or paralegal,” she says.
With general education and college-prep classes and the work-study program, the curriculum at Cristo Rey is more challenging than other institutions, Taylor acknowledges. “You have to want it. You have to want something bigger for yourself. It’s a longer school day and a longer school year,” he says. “We have students who really want it and those who don’t — same with families. I just want our students to show up and give their best.”
According to Waidelich, the school’s founding class of 2023 did just that. “This class of students took a significant leap of faith by choosing to enroll in a school that didn’t yet exist. They stuck with us as we learned the ins and outs of running a high school. They … endured virtual learning [during the COVID-19 pandemic]. They built a community and traditions that will last well into the future. They took honors and AP classes. They wrote essays and read novels. They honed their voices and developed their problem-solving skills. They completed 896 applications to 530 different colleges, and they were awarded over $15.2 million in financial aid. They showed us what is possible for our students, and they did so with humor, determination and a little bit of swagger.”
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