Many times when I introduce myself as working at Detroit Cristo Rey High School, people ask me, “Crystal Ray – who is that?” I then explain that that the name is Cristo Rey and it is Spanish for Christ the King.

The first school in our network was founded in the south side of Chicago, an area known as Pilsen. It is an almost 100% Hispanic neighborhood and the founders of the school wanted to recognize their Hispanic heritage when selecting the school name – Cristo Rey Jesuit.

Not all of the schools in the network have Cristo Rey in their name – but about half do. I am glad that in Detroit, we have it in our name for several reasons. First, it helps establish our connection to the community – we are located in Mexicantown and about 35% of our students are Hispanic. Second, it clearly connects us with the Cristo Rey Network and the wonderful mission and success rates that all of the schools in the network share.

Please do me a favor – help me tell everyone who Crystal Ray is!

It was a great time for Detroit Cristo Rey High School last weekend. Holy Name parish in Birmingham has selected us as their Lenten charity. As part of the process, we spoke at each of the Masses last weekend and met with parishioners afterwards. I was joined at each Mass by students and members of our leadership team.

Student Jacqueline, Celina and Pauline visited Holy Name along with Principal Susan Rowe and Director of Development Rob Quinn

I can’t say enough about how welcoming the parish was to us and also their interest in our students and school. People spoke to us about becoming work sponsors, tutors and financial supporters. It was energizing to the Cristo Rey team to see the level of support.

We had what I consider a real “only at Cristo Rey” moment during the weekend. At the beginning of Mass, when all participants greet their neighbor – the gentleman in front of me turned and greeted the Detroit Cristo Rey student by name. I asked the student how he would know her name. She told me, “Oh, I work with him at my work study job.” Here is our student in Birmingham, a long way from her neighborhood, literally and figuratively, connecting with the Holy Name parishioner because of her Detroit Cristo Rey work experience! It was a nice moment.

A special thank you to Msgr. Zenz, Deb Shinder and Marcia Swain for making this possible.

There has been a lot of activity at and around the school this past week.

Last week Geoff Pope visited the school and spoke to our students. Geoff is a graduate of University of Detroit Jesuit High School. He attended U of D when our Principal, Mrs. Rowe was there and they have stayed in touch. Geoff went on to college and is now a professional football player in the NFL. He is the proud owner of a Super Bowl ring from when he played for the New York Giants!

I had another visitor while Geoff was speaking and missed his talk. However, the students told me he spoke about the need for hard work and the importance of staying focused on your studies. He shared that the teachers who were the hardest on him are now the ones he respects the most.

Geoff Pope talks with freshmen Tasja Bovee and Jazmene Floyd

I did stop by after the talk was over and expected to see Geoff surrounded by our young men asking him about the NFL. I was surprised to see so many of our young ladies have an interest in pro football! Many of them were getting their picture taken with him. It was a good day and very nice of him to take time out of his busy schedule to visit with us.

Over the week-end we were at Holy Name in Birmingham. I will let you know how that went in my Thursday blog.

A big portion of my job is to get the Detroit Cristo Rey “story” out. We need to make sure that as many potential families, volunteers, donors and job sponsors know about the great school we are building. Yesterday, I had two chances to tell our story.

I appeared on the Craig Fahle show from WDET (101.9 FM) and talked about the school. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous but the staff there was great and Craig and I had a nice ten minute conversation about the school. Check out the audio for 2/11 (our segment begins about 14 minutes into the clip). Take a listen and pass it on to someone who may not know about Detroit Cristo Rey.

Immediately after the radio show, I headed west to speak to the Kiwanis Club of Colonial Plymouth. There were about 50 people there and they were very interested to learn about our students and their work to becoming future college graduates. It was a great group.

One more thing. I am overdue in mentioning our “webmaster” Dean Simmer. Dean does a terrific job keeping our site current and accessible. Our web site is one of the best ways we get the Cristo Rey story out. Thanks Dean.