American Province Ministry Connections
September 2020
Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep 
 
Preston Kendall, President
"A Long and Winding Road": Excerpts from an interview with Rogerr Oliva
by John Geis

Rogerr’s (CRSM ’13 NIU '19) journey to graduation from Northern Illinois University (NIU) involved enough twists, turns to discourage any driver. But Rogerr (yes, two Rs) is not like most. The course of his academic career belies his abilities, much less his persistence.
You wanted to go to NIU even before high school, so it worked out as planned…
[smiling] Not exactly. My grades at CRSM were unimpressive. The fact is, I drifted through my first two years at CRSM. In my Junior year, I began to realize that my friends were doing great things, and that motivated me. Thanks to the Counseling Department, I got a break and was accepted through NIU’s Chance Program. In my first year, I received the Chance Award for a high GPA.

And the rest, as they say, is history.
[laughing] Well, it’s more complicated than that. I then worked really hard to get the grades needed to enter NIU's College of Business. But soon after getting accepted, I realized I didn’t fit. I was disheartened. I had “wasted” all this time, money, and effort. That’s when I got my second break. The director of the Operations Management and Information Systems Department recognized my abilities in “tech” and offered me a spot. So, I started over. It was a perfect fit. It took me six years, but here I am, full-time at Discover Financial, teaching people how to function within a software development framework. I guess sometimes it’s ok to not know what to do because that means there’s something exciting out there waiting for you.

Cristo Rey New York High School  

Dan Dougherty, President
Each year, Cristo Rey New York High School students work with their English teachers to produce a literary magazine. The final product, Lion’s Roar, is always filled with beautiful stories, poems, and song lyrics written by students from all grades on a wide variety of topics. Students can submit pieces they wrote for a class, or anything they have written independently. They work with our English department to edit and finalize their work, and it is eventually published in a booklet to be distributed throughout our school community. 

This year, many of our students were moved to write about their experiences as young people of color living in a time unlike anything they have ever known. Their writing reflects their resilience as they fight through the coronavirus pandemic and deal with all the accompanying fear and grief. In Jazlynn’s “Seeing What’s in Front of You” (pg. 11), she admires the strength of her mother, a nurse working tirelessly for COVID patients. These stories also show their courage and bravery as they use their voices to work towards social justice and racial equity in their communities. Nashia’s poem “Sorry Not Sorry” (pg. 4) is a moving piece recounting her thoughts on what it means to be a young Black woman in America today.
 
We are so proud of this publication every year, but this year’s is especially poignant and impressive, and we are so excited to share it with you. You can find CRNYHS’ Lion’s Roar 2020 online here.