Ethan Ingwers: Learning and Discovering Purpose at Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School
When I first walked into the doors of San Jose’s Cristo Rey Jesuit High School I was greeted by countless smiling faces and hardworking students. I could tell the environment was one of acceptance and kindness. I immediately felt at home and had no problem integrating myself into their community.
It was eye opening to see how a non-profit organization functions at such a high level when everyone is working towards a common noble goal. Serving their students to the absolute best of their ability is the top priority of every employee who I had the pleasure of meeting. Their hard work has allowed them to create a multitude of amazing programs for the students like the corporate work study program. This enables each student at Cristo Rey to achieve 4 years of industry experience by the time they graduate. The level of professionalism and character the students have demonstrated has shown me how much of a difference a highly dedicated and passionate team can really accomplish.
My work at Cristo Rey was very daunting at first as it was heavily centered around aspects of graphical design and marketing. As a Management major, I had very little experience for these tasks. However, my managers really helped me step out of my comfort zone to embrace the challenges of learning a new skill from scratch and applying it at a high level. As someone who works in the advancement office, my work revolves around obtaining and updating donors. Our first in person event was Oktoberfest themed and I was able to meet and interact with potential donors. Being around people who all share the same passion and care for helping others is an invigorating and priceless experience. One that I will look forward to for the rest of my time here at Cristo Rey.