ICA Update
Cristo Rey must confront a community
of educators, employers, coaches,
and supervisors who guide them to
answer the all important question:
Who do you want to be and what do
you need to do to get there?
Jenny’s story does not stop there. She
has been a partner of the Corporate
Work Study Program for more than
five years. Four students work in
the Risk Management & Safety
department under the supervision
of Jenny’s team. When the program
began, she saw that this was in-line
with the mission she knew so well
and wanted to be part of making the
mission a reality. She says that in the
beginning it was not easy because
it forced her team to get organized.
“When there is more structure, we
see that our young ladies start to
build skills quickly and can be trusted
with more responsibility.” She goes
onto say, “We see that the students
are better trained and now we have
them as a central part of our team.”
In addition, Jenny takes the time to
engage her student workers with “real
talks”. “ I sit with them and ask, “How
are you going to present yourself
as a women in a male dominated
world.” Through the conversations,
she works to guide her student
workers to understand that we all
worked to get where we are now.
So the most important questions are
not necessarily about the end result,
but the pathway to success. “These
young women are also learning
how to enter into the industries
they become interested in and most
people grow up thinking there just is
a doctor, lawyer, accountant, or that
they go to an office. Oftentimes, no
one talks about the path that gets
them there. This is great exposure to
experience life in a different way and
meet people they would never be
exposed to and learn about the path.”
As ICA Cristo Rey enters its eighth
year with our work study program,
we now are beginning to see how
the work experience is starting to pay
off once students graduate. It is only
fitting that Jenny is also involved in
setting an example.
During Emely Alberto’s ’15 senior year,
she worked on Jenny’s team. Emely
was accepted to college and was
getting ready to start her Frosh year
at Skyline. Meanwhile, Jenny had an
idea. “We had an entry level position
and we were not pleased with the
previous hires. We sat around and
said how can we fill this…how about
Emely? We did not want her to leave
school but saw her productivity on our
team as a senior at ICA Cristo Rey. I
told her you have to go to school, it is
important for your future.”
Emely now works full time and goes
to school at night. She is a claims
assistant and is responsible for
looking at all claims that come into
Jenny’s department world-wide
and determines how to address the
claims. Additionally, Emely completes
research for lawsuits as a pseudoparalegal. Jenny says, “Initially there
is some transition from the high
school work study experience to the
real-world, but learning responsibility
at a young age is a great gift.” Jenny
urges other companies to do the
same. She says that ICA Cristo
Rey is a valuable job bank and as
other companies invest in its future,
the possibilities are endless. “This
Spartan Spotlight
job bank invests in not only future
employment, but also is a catalyst
for promoting higher education
completion for young women. I am
very proud to be part of this team.
I think there is great opportunity
here—there is a great ladder for them
to move up. As professionals we
network, and our girls get the chance
to build their networks and be part of
others’ networks. The young women
of ICA Cristo Rey are above and
beyond the majority of young talent
out there—they need to be on the
radar for other opportunities.”
We celebrate Jenny for all she
embodies as a member of the ICA
community. She lives the mission of
our community and continues to teach
the lessons she learned on campus
to the wide world that is in her reach.
We look forward to seeing not only
Jenny’s continued success, but also
the successful lives she forms and
guides in the spirit of our ICA Cristo
Rey mission. §
Summer 2016
27