Local Cristo Rey school officially approved
Fr. T.J. Martinez named first president

By ERIK NORIEGA
Herald Staff Writer

HOUSTON – The Cristo Rey Network’s board has approved its 20th school, this one located in the Houston area.  The new Jesuit college preparatory high school is aimed at giving low-income students the opportunity at a secondary Catholic education. It will open its doors to approximately 125 freshman in the fall of 2009, with a goal of 500 students in four grades within four years.
Along with the announcement that the new school had been approved, Father Antonio “T.J.” Martinez was named the school’s first president.
Father Martinez is not new to Texas. Born in San Antonio, the Jesuit priest was raised in Brownsville, and obtained a law degree from the University of Texas. It was, however, during his undergrad education at Boston College that he became interested in joining the Jesuits as a priest, immediately following law school.
While it appeared that his path would lead him to teach at the university level, he says that a three-year stop at Dallas Jesuit “changed his life.”
“It was great. They loved challenging me as good adolescents do,” Father Martinez said.
Father Martinez still sports the oversized Texas belt buckle his students gave him when he left Dallas Jesuit. He proudly points to it and explains that his tenure in Dallas was the beginning of his desire to teach high school-aged kids.
After working on master’s degrees in theology and philosophy, Father Martinez was asked to obtain yet another master’s degree from the prestigious Harvard Graduate School of Education.
While there, he was honored with the Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute Award for the School Leadership Program.
While the opening of the newest Cristo Rey school is still more than a year away, Father Martinez, along with the advisory committee that made the school a reality, has his work cut out for him.
“I’m the president; I’m the development person, I’m the person who answers the phones, and I’m the janitor,” Father Martinez jested.
In addition to filling numerous positions such as the development person, the secretary and janitor, Father Martinez has been busy making people aware that the school is in need of corporate sponsors.
The Cristo Rey model is unique in many ways, from the way that education costs are funded, to the curriculum, to the fact that students are introduced to corporate America at a very young age.
A longer school day and year, plus academic assistance and special counseling prepare students for the rigors and expectations of college. In fact, approximately 99 percent of Cristo Rey graduates are college-bound.
More unique is the fact that all students participate in a work-study program called the Corporate Internship Program.  Four students share one position at a participating company.  That salary pays for roughly 70 percent of the cost of their tuition. Parents are asked to assume as much financial responsibility as possible, but the reality is that the gap between this salary and the cost of educating a student must be funded through other means such as grants. 
Throughout the Cristo Rey Network, more than 1,000 companies participate in the corporate program. Each year 90 percent of corporate sponsors renew their student positions each year.
Father Martinez makes it clear that the students, and even corporate sponsors, won’t be the only ones benefiting from their participation.
“The return (on corporate investment) is a kid who would have never had a chance to go to college has a chance to go to college,” Father Martinez said.
“In addition, these kids really produce for their participating company. It’s not surprising to see students who eventually help set the vision for their company even if it’s on a smaller scale,” Father Martinez said.
“However, the bigger return is the return for Houston.  This school isn’t only benefiting this one segment of the city.  But if people really believe in this mission and the potential that the youth in that part of Houston have…well, these are the future leaders of the Church.  These are the future leaders of corporate Houston,” Father Martinez said.
There are currently 31 corporate sponsors on board.
With the approval of the Cristo Rey Network board, the Jesuits began a formal study of the Houston area two years ago. They found that more than 60,000 students in Houston’s east side had “almost no access to a high quality Catholic education.” The drop out rate of students in this area is almost 59 percent.
In addition, the study showed that a whopping 98 percent of parents said they would consider a Catholic education if they could afford it.
While a location for the school has not been chosen, a general area has: Houston’s east side.
“We felt that this was central to a large area of Houston that is predominantly low income. Plus, we would have close access to I-45 facilitating transportation to and from school,” Father Martinez said.
At its core, Father Martinez wants to make it clear that Cristo Rey is still a Catholic school, and his vision of Catholic education is simple.
“It’s not just being smart. There’s a lot more to Catholic education than academic excellence, although that is a requirement,” Father Martinez explained. “It’s about giving back. The whole nature of Catholic, of Jesuit education, in my mind is all about – we’re not really living up to our human potential until we start giving back.
“So it’s the process of becoming human within the image of Christ,” Father Martinez added.
For more information about Cristo Rey Houston, visit www.cristoreyhouston.org.  To find out more about corporate participation, e-mail Sharon Jacobson at sharonjacobson@jacobsonadvisors.com or secondaryed@norprov.org.