Education Accessibility - Tyler Mayer
Tyler Mayer: Tyler is the Fourth President of the Indianapolis Providence Cristo Rey School.
What was the inspiration behind founding this school?
Tyler: “Providence Cristo Rey is actually part of a network. There are 37 Cristo Rey schools across the nation and they're opening up three or four more in the next three years - it's growing. Basically how it happened is a Jesuit priest named Father Foley was sent to the Southside of Chicago, which is a pretty poor area of the city. He was sent there to break the cycle of poverty. Experts say there's two ways of overturning poverty: by economic opportunity or educational efforts. So he decided to start his own High School in ‘96.”
And why did they choose to make religion a foundational element of Cristo Rey?
“We believe that as Christians, regardless of religion, human beings are made up of three core elements: mind, body, and soul. So if our job is to form young people, to do it in the best possible way, you have to help form the mind, the body and the soul. Because, again, to get to the mind, body, and soul, you're helping that person become the best version of themselves. So when they walk out of your halls and enter into the world, they're set up to be as successful as possible. That's ultimately why Faith is the bedrock of our organization. The word catholic with a lowercase “c” means universal. The idea behind it is, it's meant for all people. It's all about helping a person become the best version of themselves - which is universal for everyone.”
One of the most unique aspects of the school is “The Corporate Work Experience.” This both works to pay for 1/3 of their tuition, plus gives them work experience. Why do you think this program is so important? And also, how does it help form students in the long run?
Tyler: “These students are getting job training, hard skills, and soft skills... the “stuff “ that really makes the world go round. They're getting experience at a more advanced rate than their peers who are in high school and are just going straight through classes. Our students are getting exposure to what it looks like to be the best version of yourself within a professional setting - that's an advantage. It's also career exploration. The most important thing is the access to opportunity. Our students need that bridge. This isn't a charity nor is this a handout. It is really hard to be here. They have to put the work in.”
Has there been one student in particular or a group of students that has really left an impression on you, and who also keeps you going through the harder days?
3 stories :
Story 1) “One of our students worked at an insurance company from freshman to senior year. The President of this company took our student out to lunch and said, “Okay, tell me where you're going, what you want to study, etc?” She said she was going to IU and she wants to study business administration and do insurance. And later, he asks me, “What high school kid goes into college saying they want to do insurance?” Because she got exposed to it [from the Work Study Program] that's what she wanted to do. We serve a 97% diverse student body. The student body is polite. They're hard working. They're funny. They're intelligent. The only reason why they don't independently have the opportunities is because of the zip code they live in. It’s ridiculous. They don't have ways to get these quality opportunities.``
Story 2) “I wanted to hear from an alumni so I got connected with this young man named Doryaun Harvey. Doryaun transferred into our school sophomore year. I asked him what his favorite part about Providence was and without skipping a beat, he said “the Corporate Work Study Program.” And I said, “Well, why?” Then Doryaun said, “That was the first time in my life that I felt seen and I felt like I had value.” He worked for a company’s IT department. Doryaun, during his junior/senior year, was actually the smartest one in the IT department -as a junior in high school. He became the lead IT technician so if something broke or needed to be installed, they looked to Doryaun. He had never thought college was going to be an option. But by senior year, he realized that he belonged in college. It wasn't our college prep, nor our academic programming, nor our education. Rather, it was the Corporate Work Study Program that inspired him. He attended Franklin College and he now works in the IT department at the company he did his internship for.”
Story 3) “Last story. There's this young lady. She comes in her freshman year and her mom is her hero. Growing up, her mom worked doing laundry at hotels. She always thought that’s what she would do. So she comes here, and her freshman year, she gets placed at Eli Lilly and she's working in the mailroom. John Lechleiter, who was the old President and CEO of Eli Lilly, has a luncheon for all the students at the end of the year. He sits next to her at lunch, and he's like, “How did it go?” And she's like, “Well, it was okay. But I don't really like it very much. I don't want to come back.” And he goes, “Well tell me why.” And she says, “Well, you know, I really want to be a chemist and you can work in a mailroom anywhere else.” Flash forward to a year later, she gets her job placement and is sent back to Eli Lilly her sophomore year -she's disappointed. When shows up on her first day at work, she goes down to the mailroom and they're like, “No, no, no, you're supposed to be up in the chemistry lab.” John Lechleiter placed a sophomore in high school in the Chemistry lab. Fast forward to the end of her junior year, John sits next her again, at lunch, and asks how it went. She said, “Well, I'm really frustrated because for this cancer drug, the sodium level is too toxic. In the end, she was right and she actually co-authored and published a paper by her senior year regarding this cancer drug. It’s been 10 years since she graduated high school and now she's a chemist at Eli Lilly.”
Access and affordability seem to be a continuous theme throughout this school, given the low tuition free computers, etc. In a world of crazy high tuition, why do you think it's so important to keep education low cost?
Tyler: “Oh, that's a great question. As a Purdue grad, I look at the namesake of MDLF and I look at the phenomenal job that Mitch Daniels has done at Purdue with tuition and costs. Hopefully, that becomes more of a trend. The more and more everyone puts these higher price tags to it, you have to cut chunks of people that could never afford those prices. Expensive Universities would benefit tremendously by having the students that we serve at Province be a part of their organizations because these students had to persevere at a different level. They have grit at a different level that will make any organization they're a part of better.”
What does Cristo Rey do to ensure tuition is affordable and low for students?
Tyler: “You have to qualify to come to school and your family has to make under a certain AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) to come here. In order for us to be successful here, there's a lot of wraparound services that are needed. For instance, we have paid staff members that continue to work with our students post-high school and all the way through college. We also have a food pantry, we offer medical care, and we have dental care. Our main goal is to get the kids from beginning to end. We don't leave anything left unchecked. We make sure that the kids have food, clothing, shelter, and we even help pay rent if we need to. So that's our focus. [At Cristo Rey] the average tuition is $30 a month and we're gonna keep it affordable for them.”
What would you rate Indiana regarding accessibility and education? And how do you think Indy, as a community, can do better?
Tyler: “I give us a C-. It's an intentionality kind of thing. Access to opportunity is the ballgame. We have to make education more accessible to a wider group of people. It just comes down to intentionality and making it a priority to reach out. I mean, I would give it a much lower score if we didn't have great legislation like vouchers. But as far as intentionality, you're just not seeing it. We [Indy] have not provided these bridges of high quality educational opportunities to some students. The money is there and that's the hardest part. We just need to be more intentional about messaging and reaching out. That's where we have room for growth.”