Class of 2016 Looks Forward
Posted on 06/06/2016
To the strains of Handel's Hornpipe, 59 members of Cristo Rey Kansas City's Class of 2016 processed into Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish on May 27. With 100% college acceptances and more than $3 million in scholarships, their achievements fulfill the advice given by Mother Xavier Ross, the foundress of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, "Look forward to the good that is yet to be."
Mother Xavier used these wise words to inspire the hard work that was required of the sisters in the early days of establishing the community in this region. In 2006, the sisters made yet another bold move and opened Cristo Rey Kansas City, a private preparatory high school uniquely formed to educate students in the urban core of Kansas City.
In their mortar boards and honor cords, Valedictorian Mikayla Bridgewater and Senior Class Speaker Andrew Yim expressed the gratitude of every member of the school's seventh graduating class.
"I'm glad to have experienced these last four years with you - my classmates - at Cristo Rey," said Bridgewater. "I pray that God continues to live through us and bless us as we go forward to take on the world."
Yim wisely advised, "It is our time to make mistakes. Don't be afraid to not be perfect. Take risks, challenge yourself, and don't be who you think you should be. Just be you!"
Cristo Rey enters into a compact with parents, job sponsors and the community to form competent young adults who are ready for college. Every partner aims to inspire graduates to recognize that values are more than the answers to Math problems. Guided by the Sisters' core values, faculty teach not only how to do things right but also how to do the right thing.
As graduates leave for colleges throughout the nation, they will take a part of Cristo Rey with them: to those to whom much is given, much is expected.