This fall, Augustana College was awarded the “School’s Choice Award for Outstanding University Partner” from the Cristo Rey Network. The college received the award from the not-for-profit organization on Sept. 6.
The Cristo Rey Network is a nationwide network of Catholic, college-preparatory high schools that offers education to students from families of limited economic means.
According to their website, the program consists of 40 high schools across the country, with 79 university partners. Assistant Director of Admissions and Diversity Outreach Eric Rowell said Augustana has been partnered with the Cristo Rey Network for the last few years.
“We’ve established a great relationship with them being able to recruit their students to Augustana and, thus far, they have been very successful here,” Rowell said.
Rowell said that the college currently houses 24 students from the network. Their website states the network equips students with four years of college-prep academics, along with four years of work experience through their Corporate Work Study program.
“It helps us find students who are academically geared towards college from a variety of different backgrounds and interests,” Rowell said.
Junior Amy Arteaga attended one of the network’s schools in Fort Worth, Texas. During her freshman year of high school, Arteaga worked at a financial and law company.
“Most of [the] time, they’ll kind of want to place you in a certain field where you could excel,” Arteaga said. “Usually, they put you in wherever because they kind of want you to dip your toes in every kind of field.”
Arteaga also worked for Texas Christian University doing hospitality work and The Fort Worth Club.
“It was extremely busy, but it was a great opportunity, and I felt like I really enjoyed working at hospitality and providing services for customers,” Arteaga said.
Arteaga said she is also a first-generation college student, which is closely aligned with the program’s mission statement.
“The Cristo Rey Network focuses on low-income areas around the country to provide them with opportunities for college,” Rowell said.
Junior Diego Catalan also attended one of the program’s schools in Waukegan, Ill. and said once a week he would work in a professional setting, either “on-site, hybrid or remote.”
“Even though you were always supposed to wear ties every day, it still helped me out in the long run,” Catalan said. “If I didn’t attend that school, I would probably be somewhere else and not in high[er] education.”
Catalan said he felt very prepared for college due to the study habits he developed in high school.
“I knew how to study, I knew what to do, I knew to set times for homework, I set times for breaks,” said Catalan. “So, they just helped me prepare.”
According to the program’s website, the rate of Cristo Rey students who go on to earn Bachelor’s degrees within six years is twice as high compared to their demographic peers.
“It just really helped me out positively. I was more responsible with my homework and work-related stuff,” said Catalan.
