Empowering Students Through Mentorship and Guidance: Dunaway’s Partnership with Cristo Rey

This year, Dunaway was honored to participate in Cristo Rey Fort Worth High School’s Corporate work-study program. Founded in 1996, Cristo Rey’s mission is to disrupt generational cycles of poverty through a Catholic faith-based college preparatory curriculum integrated with a work-study program. Through their work-study model, local businesses cover about 50% of the tuition to the school through a sponsorship of students they select to work for them once a week throughout the school year – providing the students an opportunity to earn their tuition while gaining real-life experience.

Senior Discipline Lead and Associate Principal, Matt Patyk, CPSWQ, CFM, championed the partnership with Cristo Rey and the experience is one that will stay with him. “Working with the Cristo Rey students has been a great experience,” explains Matt.  “After being with the students for the full year, it’s clear to me that the Corporate Work Study Program is so much more than just having students work in the corporate setting. It’s about mentoring and helping these students grow not only professionally, but also personally. This program has left a lasting impact on me and I am glad to be a part of it!”

Dunaway is thrilled to have drafted four brilliant minds who have worked with us throughout this past year – Hector Villa (Freshman) and Leone Kimani (Junior) both worked within our GIS department, while Kevin Gonzalez (Senior) worked with our Civil Group and Nina Obregon (Sophomore) who worked with our Marketing department. As the school year wraps up and their time with us comes to a close, we tasked one of our students, Nina Obregon, to give us insight into her time working at Dunaway and what it was like participating in the work-study program.

Can you tell us a little more about the work-study program?
What is it like, and how often do you come in?

In the program, each student works one day out of the week, plus one Friday a month, to get real workplace experience and opportunities. The Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) provides us with professional experience and helps students earn 50% of their tuition. We also have the opportunity to develop networking skills and business contacts that will help us grow.

All Cristo Rey students get to participate in something called draft day. What was draft day like for you as a student?

Draft day is an event Cristo Rey Fort Worth hosts and is very similar to the NFL draft! Each student gets selected to work for a company, usually in teams of four. Every student’s name gets called to walk on stage and meet their new team. Usually, Cristo Rey has guest announcers and entertainers at the event!

How do they decide who gets chosen for each company?

Cristo Rey makes sure to match each student with a company that will be beneficial to the student and that fits their career interest.

What other fun events do you get to participate in as part of the work-study program?

We also get to participate in the Cornhole Classic! Cornhole Classic is an annual cornhole tournament that Cristo Rey’s corporate partners can attend to have fun and be involved with our school! The proceeds of this year’s Cornhole Classic went to the Cristo Rey Fort Worth alumni students (CRFW’s first graduating class!)

That sounds like a blast! Are there any other exciting events?

Yes, we also have a tacos and tamales event! The Tacos and Tamales event is a lunch event that happens every year that all of our partners are invited to! Cristo Rey staff and parents make homemade delicious tacos and tamales for everyone to enjoy. Our Tacos and Tamales event is a way to say thank you to our partners, parents, students, teachers/staff, and everyone involved at CRFW!

During your time at Dunaway, you had the opportunity to work with our marketing team.
What was that like for you and what tasks did you take on during that time?

In addition to learning about digital newsletters and working in Constant Contact, I also assisted with promo items. A common task I do at Dunaway is organizing the marketing closet! I put promo items away and tidy up the space. There was a day we received a large delivery and it took me the whole day to rearrange and organize everything.

We’ve loved having you at Dunaway, Nina! Thanks for all that you did.

Thank you! We are super thankful for getting the opportunity to work at Dunaway this year and we’ve learned many professional skills we will apply in the future. Along with everything we’ve learned, we’ve made amazing friendships along the way. Thank you, Dunaway!