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April 3, 2025College Fair
There are approximately 6,000 colleges and universities in the United States. With such a large range of options it can feel impossible to skim through all, evaluating which one might be your next home away from home.
Luckily for the Royals, a college fair with different representatives from colleges across America gathered at Cristo Rey to help alleviate any doubts students might have about college.
The presence of so many colleges, students had the opportunity to have any of their burning questions answered, such as concerns about education, location, student life, financial aid or even rowdy roommates.
College, like most major life events, can seem an eternity away, but knowing the difference between being aware and being prepared is why the school offers these experiences to students.
Getting an idea off the ground takes a lot more than two paper wings, so with the proper guidance of God we can help nurture and prepare our Royals as they slowly inch towards one of the biggest milestones in their lives.
Lenten Penance Service
In line with our usual Lenten activities, Cristo Rey commemorates this special time by holding a Lenten Penance Service every year, offering an opportunity for students to open up their hearts and examine their intentions during this Lenten season.
During this service, priests visit Cristo Rey to hear confessions or even to have simple conversations with students, Catholic or not. Others take advantage of a quiet and peaceful space to pray, relax their minds or ease their imaginations as calming music and coloring sheets are offered to those who want them.
It’s easy to slip into temptation, we are only human, but by helping students sharpen their hearts and their minds with these opportunities and exercises, perhaps it will guide them down God’s path for them.
Salve Italia
This spring break a small group of Cristo Rey students could officially dub themselves pilgrims as they embarked on an educational trip to Italy on behalf of EF Tours.
The rich history of Italy is not unknown, paired with its beauty which bursts from the pores of its past sorrows. No wonder half of Cristo Rey was anxious to know how to secure a place on the plane.
Even though there were some ups and downs regarding departure dates and weather, each Royal on the trip got to and from Italy in one piece, even if their luggage didn't.
We visited lovely cities – Verona, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Assisi, Rome – a classical favorite, the Vatican. Churches and basilicas both restored and ruined riddled the streets and we loved learning the stories that resided within the chipping paint of their walls.
The stubbornness of the ruins to never surrender reminded us of the resilience of the people who dedicated their lives to secure a sacred place for their faith, even if they gave in towards progress, even if they gave into the elements, even if all that stares back is a single faded portrait on a barren wall.
A Pilgrimage
Cristo Rey is offering those who got a taste for pilgrimages from Italy, or even those who didn’t, the opportunity to hike up the Wichita Mountains to do the Stations of the Cross.
Mountain tops are important to Catholicism both spiritually and symbolically as they can be representative of many of the aspects of our faith. Hiking and overcoming a feat as big as a mountain is to overcome something major, like many instances in the bible, to overcome a mountain is to overcome the gap between us and God present throughout our everyday lives.
Students are invited to join this challenge to overcome the pain, vices and sins of everyday life that slowly desensitize us from Gods light and meet him at the top, not just because we need him but because we love him.
Diana Garcia is a senior at Cristo Rey OKC Catholic High School.
Photo: (Above) All of the Italy travelers representing Cristo Rey OKC posed together standing near the entrance of Pisa. Photo provided.
A Cristo Rey OKC group of travelers stood in front of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. Photo provided