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Our program is brought to us by the esteemed John O’Keefe, Club member extraordinaire. (the man, the myth and the legend, all rolled into one!)
Father Travis Russell is the President of Verbum Dei High School in south central Los Angeles, and a Jesuit priest. He has an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Loyola in Chicago, and a master’s degree in divinity. Father Russell started his career in San Francisco with the Jesuits.
Some quotes from Father Russell:
- “Verbum Dei works and there is no better investment in Los Angeles than Vernon Dei High School."
- “Vernon Dei is very simple, and it works.”
- “We are the only high school in Los Angeles with working internships.”
Founded in 1962 by Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles, Verbum Dei uses a scaling model with a business focus. It was founded to administer to the black community in Watts, where the Catholic Church had no foothold. The school quickly took hold in the community, and he showed us a photo In a yearbook, of the school surrounded by the students to protect it during from being burnt down during the Watts riots. Soon thereafter Verbum Dei became an athletic powerhouse on state level. In 1992 we had the Rodney King riots, but the community protected the school once again from being burnt down, and the high school remained untouched. But Watts retained a reputation around the world as the epicenter of the riots and ignored by investors. Shortly thereafter the Jesuits and Cardinal Mahoney took it over after near bankruptcy.
Several students joined us.
- John Paul a junior - works at a carbon trading company. He’s always excited about coming to school every day and the APs or advanced courses. His internship is at Capital Group.
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Vertis Nevins also a junior – his work study is with Glenair, an aerospace manufacturing firm in Glendale. Loves school and his job. Vertis is thinking about a dual major in psychology and business.
The corporate work study program at Verbum Dei includes lessons about managing money. The students gather each morning at the school before the bus shuttles them to their internship jobs. School administrators and teachers check to make sure they are dressed appropriately, show up on time and ready to make an impression at work.
There are approx. 315 students enrolled now. Enrollment depends on the jobs or internships offered. 350 was the high point but the pandemic hurt them.
“Work hard, play hard, pray hard” is their motto.
Verbum Dei is an all-boys school and Father Russell admits to being biased.
Verbum Die is run as a very lean company. “Part of our competitive advantage.” As a Jesuit school it’s known for focus on private education. All students study and work. The aim is to be the highest academic achievers in Los Angeles.
They are launching a campaign to build an “enterprise and entrepreneurial” building.
There has been no development in Watts since 1962.
In the community of Watts, $49,000 is the average income for a family of four.
The overall cost of education is covered by corporate study program donations. The average tuition charged is $1,400/year and the balance of the annual budget is paid by donations, which amounts to 65% of their budget.
The students are placed in positions where they are rubbing elbows with influential decision makers.
Jesse Jovel told us that coming out of the pandemic, they only had enough jobs for 48% of the students. Now 85% students are working.
Stephanie Andrade says “Verb” has a mentoring program to bridge the gap between part-time and full-time jobs.
Jesse says 20% of the students are on work study.
All of the companies offering internships make contributions to Verbum Dei and help to cover costs of program.
In the past year, 94% of the graduating students were accepted to four-year universities. The balance of the student body went on to two-year colleges. Most are on scholarships in college. Verbum Dei does not recommend students take on more than $5,000 of debt each year; “the ROI is not there.”
Most of the students live within a five-mile radius of the school, which is also across the street from Nickerson Gardens.
John O’Keefe observed that the academic program is very rigorous, doing five days of work in four days. One day a week the students are working a full day at their internship.
Father Russell closed his remarks, asking us to leave today and talk to at least one person about Verbum Dei.
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