DePaul Cristo Rey High School elevates Corporate Work Study Program with strategic plan

While all Tristate schools were impacted by COVID-19, DePaul Cristo Rey High School (DPCR), a college preparatory Catholic high school in Clifton, faced additional disruptions outside of remote learning and new cleaning procedures. The school’s Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP), in which students spend five days each month working for an employer in the community, also came to a halt.

While DPCR continues to work to bring the program back to pre-pandemic status, the school is looking ahead, too. As part of the school’s first strategic plan, DPCR is planning to invest even more in CWSP. We spoke with Shermirah Smith, the new vice president of CWSP, to learn more about the school, the program and how businesses can get involved.

Cincy Magazine: What is DePaul Cristo Rey High School?

Shermirah Smith: DePaul Cristo Rey is a college preparatory Catholic high school in Cincinnati. We opened our doors in 2011, so we are still a fairly young school. We are a part of a national network of 38 schools that have the same model. And the model is that the students receive an affordable Catholic high school college preparatory education while also being trained in the business world to be able to pursue careers once they’re in college and after college. Partners pay a fee for service so that the students can afford the Catholic education at DPCR.

One hundred percent of our senior class is accepted to college annually and many of our students are first-generation college attendees. Some actually are first-generation high school graduates. That’s a whole new world for them. We are equipping them, making sure that they receive the education that they need to go to college, but also financially preparing them for college as well.

CM: What is the Corporate Work Study Program?

SS: The Corporate Work Study Program is a part of the school. It’s a huge part of our financial model, but it’s also an important part of our education model. We deploy our students to work. They attend their classes four days a week, and then one day a week—five days a month—we actually send them out to our corporate partners. And the goal of this program is for the students to be able to go into corporate and nonprofit offices across the Tristate, and experience real in-person work. They’re being trained on the job. They get an amazing level of mentorship from their supervisors, but they also are gaining that experience and they’re helping their supervisors and their companies get work done.

CM: How does the school’s new strategic plan address what happened to CWSP during COVID-19?

SS: Strategically, we want the Corporate Work Study Program to get back to pre-pandemic status, which was 100% of our students deployed and experiencing this program. The goal of this program is for students for all four years, ninth through 12th grade, to participate in Corporate Work Study.

Last school year was the first year that we deployed students to work since the pandemic and we were only able to deploy 50% of our students. The strategic plan is about growth when it comes to CWSP, but also stability and that we develop meaningful, long-lasting partnerships. Because what we’ve learned over the years is that the mentorship part, the relationship building part of this program, is really what is most impactful.

CM: What is DPCR doing to meet this goal?

SS: We are just really revving up the energy around CWSP and we are pounding the doors of Cincinnati businesses. We are hosting events called Discover CWSP here at the school where we invite potential partners to take a tour, meet our students, have lunch and learn about the program.

We’ve maximized our presence on social media, LinkedIn and other platforms. We’ve been known for many years to be the best-kept secret in Cincinnati, which is a great thing, but honestly, we don’t want to be a secret anymore. We want the city to know about this program and know how great of an initiative it is. Our students work in 90 organizations in more than 20 industries and we’re looking to extend our reach.

CM: What are your goals for the program?

SS: Personally, we would like to grow the program so that 100% of our students can participate in the program, including the freshmen. We also want to make sure that we are connecting with our companies, our partners and supervisors, to make sure that they are having a great experience.

CM: How can businesses get involved?

SS: They can certainly call the school. They can contact me directly or Siobhan Taylor, our president. We would love to come out to their organization to visit or host them here. During Discover CWSP Days, we do a tour and show them around the school, talk about how we fully support our students, the whole student, not just the academic side or CWSP. Please call me at 513-861-0600 or email me (shermirah.smith@dpcr.net) to attend an upcoming Discover CWSP Day.

What DPCR Students Do at Work:

• Answer phones
• Audit reports
• Code reports
• Data entry
• Digitize files
• Event assistance
• Payroll support
• Research
• Website support
• And much more