Education
Dominican Sister Mary Virginia Leach, ICA president, Jesuit Father John P. Foley, founder of the Cristo Rey model, Lisa Graham, ICA principal; Rob Birdsell, Cristo Rey Network president.
Immaculate Conception Academy becomes a ‘Cristo Rey’ school
September 2nd, 2009
San Francisco’s Immaculate Conception Academy entered its first semester as part of the innovative Cristo Rey school network with an opening day Mass Aug. 25 celebrated by Jesuit Father John Foley, founder of the Cristo Rey model.
Cristo Rey schools include 24 institutions and 6,000 students across the United States where students help pay their tuition and gain job and life experience with school-day jobs in the private and public sector. At full enrollment, the schools recover up to 90 percent of the cost of educating each student
“Ladies, this is not about anything mediocre or half-hearted,” Father Foley told the assembly of 300 in his homily. “This journey is our response to Christ’s invitation to walk on water. You are here to develop all the talent God has given you. That’s what will change our world. That’s what will hasten the coming of the Kingdom.”
Immaculate Conception Academy held what it called “Camp Rey” for all students in the week before school started. “The program focused on teaching the young women the hard and soft skills vital to their success in the corporate world,” the school said. “Classes focused on all aspects of the corporate world including shaking hands, looking people in the eye, public speaking, financial literacy, and the importance of confidentiality.”
Currently, Immaculate Conception Academy has 50 positions for its students with businesses and non-profits across the Bay Area, the school said. Four students share one full-time position working five days a month.
Among the sponsors are Academy of Art University, American Red Cross, the Department of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Borel Private Bank and Trust Co., City of San Francisco – office of Supervisor David Campos, Kaiser Permanente, St. Mary’s Medical Center, and KPIX- CBS 5 where duties include assisting in organizing the news library, dubbing tapes and logging news stories.
More than 1,500 entities sponsor jobs across the Cristo Rey network. In school year 2008-09, students contributed more than $27 million to their education cost.
Immaculate Conception Academy, an all-girls school, has a student enrollment of 248. Mission San Jose Dominican Sister Mary Virginia Leach is president. Lisa Graham is principal. “The Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose are excited to be a new sponsor with the Cristo Rey network,” the congregation said. The Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose founded Immaculate Conception in 1883.
For more information or to learn about becoming a Cristo Rey job sponsor, contact Jonathan Wang at jwang@icacademy.org or (415) 824-2052, ext. 27.
From September 4, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
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