Cristo Rey Jesuit High School Celebrates Unity in Diversity
On Friday, October 25th, Cristo Rey hit the pause button on our regular school and work schedule, and celebrated our diverse community. Over 30 community partners joined us for our 3rd annual Unity in Diversity conference. From Best Buy’s employee resource group panel, to step classes taught by a local dance professional, students and faculty shared stories and smiles with our neighbors and allies in the Twin Cities. Ask your students about their experience at the conference!
Employee of the Quarter
One of our Cristo Rey traditions is to honor students. Each academic quarter during the school year, supervisors may nominate their student worker for the Employee of the Quarter award. One student in each grade is selected by CWSP to receive the award. The student is recognized for their achievement during an, all school assembly.
On Friday, November 8th, expect your Monday students to arrive to work a ½ hour later to attend the awards ceremony.
Supervisors and families of nominees and winners are invited to attend the ceremony and celebrate with our community. Contact your Client Relations Manager if you would like to attend the event on November 8th! It's great way to start your Friday! Your next opportunity to nominate your student for this award is mid-January.
Nominated students may also be featured as #WorkerWednesday. Entries are shared via social media every Wednesday. Share the impact of the CWSP program in Minnesota and beyond!
Featured Best Practice: Meaningful Relationships
At Cristo Rey, we believe that relationships with others are our most valuable assets. Every morning when students arrive, they are welcomed into the building with a handshake from members of the school’s leadership team. When they enter the classroom, teachers stand at the door, offering a handshake to welcome their students into the learning community. Before boarding the job shuttles to work, each member of the CWSP team firmly shakes each student’s hand, and wishes them well as they leave to join you at work. This simple moment between school staff and students was first established as a way to teach a professional norm: the handshake.
In our 13 years, we have learned that a handshake is much more than a simple exchange to say “hello”. In the time we pause to shake someone's hand, we invite conversation. Conversation builds relationships, and relationships are critical to professional growth and success at work. In a day and age when we move quickly, have endless access to information and can tune out to what’s in front of us through the latest and greatest technology, we lose the moment to pause, and build relationships with the person right in front of us.
Please join us in our school norm of pausing to learn and discover. Whether it’s a handshake followed by simple pleasantry, or integrating something that’s more ingrained in your company culture into your engagement with your student, pause with Cristo Rey and find meaning in the simple moments. We believe the simple moments are lovely catalysts for building deeper, more meaningful relationships. Which, in the end, adds meaning and value to all of our work experience.
