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At a gathering of Presidents and Principals of Jesuit schools of the Midwest Province in Cleveland this month, a keynote speech was given to our group about something called “stubborn hope.” The best way I can describe stubborn hope is a person’s unwillingness to give up hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles or setbacks. The speaker recalled many challenges in the world, our country, and in our communities that might cause us to throw our hands up in the air in frustration and question why we should continue to believe that life can be better and we can actually do something about it!
As a school leader, I know the ramifications of every major societal issue showing up in some way among our students and families, our staff members, and the broader stakeholder communities which our school interacts with. Given this reality, our keynote speaker pushed presidents and principals gathered to consider what sustains our stubborn hope as school leaders. He asked us to consider questions such as: “Where are the places where hope can feel hardest to hold on to right now?” and “Where are the places we find reasons for stubborn hope that keep us coming back to God’s invitation to us in this work?”
These questions and this idea of stubborn hope stuck with me as I traveled back to Milwaukee. The weekend after I got back from Cleveland, we had our new student and family orientation at CRJ. Before we began the orientation, with this idea in mind, I walked around our Commons asking our soon-to-be students what they hoped for by coming to Cristo Rey Jesuit next year. I received all sorts of answers. One student said he hoped to make new friends. Another said she hoped to get better at math. Yet another indicated that she hoped to work at a hospital in our Corporate Work Study Program. One particular student talked about his interest in art. He took out his cell phone and proudly showed me the pictures he had drawn. His father turned and looked at the pictures as we were talking and exclaimed, “I had no idea you could do that!”
After I finished speaking at the podium welcoming our new students and families, I walked to the side of the room and stood next to the side wall to listen to the remaining speakers. I stood with some of our staff and students who were also involved in the day. As I listened to the presentations, I heard one of our students whispering to another student behind me. I turned to see one of the students pointing at a picture of CRJ graduates in caps and gowns in a marketing brochure. As she pointed to the picture, she said to the other student excitedly, “That’s going to be us!” I turned back around and immediately had this feeling of gratitude realizing that the morning had given me plenty of reasons for stubborn hope.
Hearing students eagerly talk about their futures at our new student and family orientation helped me to remember the delicate dreams that our students and families place in our hands when they choose Cristo Rey Jesuit. This sacred responsibility we have to protect, nurture, and guide students and their dreams through their high school years is a reason I have stubborn hope. While the world may sometimes cause us to think about our work with students as small, insignificant, or just a “drop in the bucket”, I am reminded that to each student, hope in the future might be the difference in how they choose to live their lives. Listening to student hopes, watching their eyes light up when they speak about their hopes and being a caretaker of their hopes continue to build in me a stubborn hope in our mission at Cristo Rey Jesuit.
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