Kansas City Businesses Honored For Supporting Educational Opportunities
for Economically Underserved Students 

Cristo Rey Kansas City High School Honored Founding Business Partners
at Annual Founder’s Day Ceremony

(Kansas City, MO /Nov. 13, 2013) Twelve area businesses were recently honored for their partnership with Cristo Rey Kansas City’s corporate work-study program for employing Cristo Rey students every year for the past eight years. These twelve businesses have served the diverse student community since 2006, as employers, mentors, role models, and career advisors, so their Cristo Rey student interns can set their goals on work success and college graduation. Every Cristo Rey high school student works one day per week to offset the cost of his or her college prep tuition.

“The work experiences are central to a student’s academic success and are truly transformative. I doubt that our business partners realize how significant their partnership is to Cristo Rey students and their families. We are so grateful for their expertise and partnership in our mission,” said Dr. Kathleen Hanlon, President of Cristo Rey.

The following Corporate Work Study partners honored this year include:

Andrews McMeel Universal	Kansas City Life Insurance
Christian Foundation for Children & Aging	Kansas City Southern
Country Club Bank	Providence Medical Center
DST Sytems, Inc.	Saint Luke's Health System
Duchesne Clinic	Security Bank of Kansas City
Inergy/Crestwood Midstream Partners LP	University of Kansas Hospital

Cristo Rey Kansas City was founded in 2006, and is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. It is a private, college-prep, Catholic high school for students of high economic need. The Most Reverend Raymond J. Boland, and Sister Joan Sue Miller, a Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, both instrumental in the founding of Cristo Rey Kansas City, are included among the honorees at the annual Cristo Rey Founder’s Day ceremony, Friday, November 8, 3:00 p.m., at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (Redemptorist).

Father John Foley, a Jesuit priest, founded the first Cristo Rey high school in Pilsen in 1996, to serve Chicago’s South Side, where high drop out rates and low incomes were the norm. The unique operational model created partnerships with local businesses to provide jobs for students to offset tuition costs and provide real-world work experience. The model has been replicated in 26 urban areas across the country to date, and plans are in motion to add 25 more urban-core schools within the next 10 years.

“Cristo Rey provides students an academically challenging 21^st Century education through which they hone skills essential to succeed in today’s dynamically changing global society. The innovative Corporate Work Study component makes this possible and helps students make the connection between career and college. One hundred percent of our graduates have been accepted to college,” said president, Dr. Kathleen Hanlon.

“Cristo Rey Kansas City ensures our community’s economically underserved youth have access to a college-prep education along with real-world work experience, due in large measure to the outstanding corporate citizenship of these Kansas City-based companies,” added Hanlon.