Opening Minds, and Doors

And here's an article from the NYT a few weeks ago about a CR school in NYC:

Jhomel, 16, and Arisleydi, 17, attend Cristo Rey New York High School on  East 106th Street, where every student works to pay the tuition. It is a jarring notion at a time of stupendous wealth. Cristo Rey is a small Catholic  college preparatory school open to boys and girls whose families cannot afford  private school tuition. Many have average scores or are a few years behind on  standardized tests, so they would not be seen as the minority students so  prized by elite institutions that they would win scholarships.
 
The premise of the East Harlem school, and 11 others in the loose Cristo  Rey network across the country, is that age 13 is the exact moment to fan kids’ expectations, not snuff them out. Their jobs do more than pay  tuition...
 
The first Cristo Rey school opened in Chicago in 1996, backed by the  foundation of a venture capitalist named B.J. Cassin, and later by the Bill  and Melinda Gates Foundation. Each Cristo Rey school functions as a  temporary employment agency that provides entry-level clerical help — their  students — to law firms, cultural organizations, banks. The 12 schools in the  network serve about 3,000 students, most of them poor. Another one is planned for Brooklyn next year.
 
In the class of 2006, 96 percent of the graduates enrolled in college, according to the Cristo Rey network.

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October 6, 2007
About New York
Opening Minds, and Doors
By JIM DWYER
www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/nyregion/06about.html

On their way to work yesterday, Arisleydi Garcia and Jhomel Solano spoke about the SAT they will take this morning.

“I’m trying to stay in a calm state of mind,” Arisleydi said.