Jesuit Journeys
Spring/Summer 2005

BY Larry Siewert

I first met Rafael in 1984 when he was starting his freshman year at Marquette High, and I was the principal. Extremely likeable while somewhat shy, Rafael had an engaging smile and an inviting personality. He stood out among most other students because he was Hispanic and dressed according to the fashion of his inner city neighborhood. In reviewing his academic record, I noticed he had done very well at a school from which we received few students.

Along about progress report time there were indications that Rafael was really struggling. When I followed up with his teachers, they all responded similarly. Everyone seemed to think Rafael was a nice, quiet kid who couldn’t consistently keep pace with his classmates and, as a result, did poorly on tests. The slide had begun; no one seemed able to stop it. Sure enough, by the end of the first semester, Rafael left Marquette to attend his local public school.

Fr. Bill Johnson, SJ, founding president of the Nativity Jesuit Middle School in Milwaukee, talks to students during a class.

Stories like Rafael’s were becoming all too typical at Marquette High. Others like him, inner city Latino students, had the basic ability to succeed in a challenging academic program, but only a few of them actually did. With the Jesuit mandate of “preferential option for the poor” and a desire to better serve the fast-expanding Latino population, it became clear that something positive had to happen to prevent more Rafaels from being brought into the academic game at Marquette High, only to find they lacked the skills needed to succeed – skills many more fortunate kids take for granted.

Perhaps ironically, Marquette High, a school whose origin was rooted in service to a late 19th-century immigrant Catholic population, had changed dramatically over time. By 1984, Marquette had long become a premier, private preparatory school, its landscape a slippery slope for the current immigrant and minority populations in and around Milwaukee.

Jesuit Middle School of Omaha students give a warm welcome to Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, superior general of the Society of Jesus, during a visit he made to the school in October 2004. Fr. Kolvenbach is followed here by Fr. Jim Michalski, SJ, founding president of the school, Fr. Frank Case, SJ, and Wisconsin Fr. Provincial James Grummer, SJ.

To help kids like Rafael overcome educational impediments to their success, Nativity Jesuit Middle School began on Milwaukee’s south side in 1993 with a clear mission: Educating Latino Youth for Christian Leadership and Service. When the school opened its doors, it became the first Wisconsin Province apostolate to focus solely on the middle school years. Red Cloud and Our Lady of Lourdes elementary schools serve the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota; however, both function as K-8 facilities and neither is based on the Nativity model.

When Fr. Bill Johnson, SJ and I began putting together a program for the Nativity Jesuit Middle School, we modeled it after Nativity Mission Center, a school in a New York City neighborhood similar to Milwaukee’s near South Side. Our challenge was to educationally serve those who are new immigrants, who have a different cultural and language background, and who are most often the first in their families to advance beyond basic schooling. As challenges go, it was enormous. After 13 years it continues to be difficult. However, more and more of our students are attending Catholic high schools, doing well, and moving on to higher education.

Fr. Jim Michalski, SJ offers tutelage to a Jesuit Middle School student.

The Nativity program calls for a full day, year-round schedule which typically covers grades 6-8. All students are required to attend a five-week residential summer camp where academics are taught six mornings a week. During the regular school year, all are required to participate in after school activities four days per week and attend a study hall from 7- 8:45 p.m. four evenings per week.

A similar school opened in our province in 1996 to serve the African American community in North Omaha. Also in the Nativity model, the Jesuit Middle School of Omaha started with fourth grade students under the direction Fr. Jim Michalski, SJ, school co-founder and president. Research there indicated that intervention was needed sooner if the program was to be effective. Therefore, the Jesuit Middle School of Omaha provides five years of education and guidance to prepare students for rigorous high school programs that get them ready for college.

The aftermath of so many Catholic grade schools closing over the past 20-30 years has spawned a rebirth of prehigh school Catholic schools. Nativity Jesuit and the Jesuit Middle School of Omaha are among 15 such Jesuit middle schools, most of which have opened within the past dozen years. In addition, there is also a consortium of these types of schools which has formed a national organization called the Nativity Network Schools. Currently, there are over 60 of these schools, a number that continues to grow each year.

Juan Martin, Rigoberto Macias, and Jose “Ben” Padilla display their Marquette University High School diplomas. The trio was part of the first student class at Nativity Jesuit Middle School and the first to graduate from a Jesuit high school.

These schools serve inner city youths in order to prepare them for solid high school performance which leads to postsecondary education and hopefully results in forming them as Christian, Catholic leaders in their communities.

As I watch more and more Nativity students succeed where Rafael faltered, I find myself thinking about what might have been. I’m convinced that had a Nativity school program been available to help prepare Rafael for high school, he would be a successful college graduate today – perhaps even a role model for others and a leader in his community.

So as the Wisconsin Province celebrates its 50th anniversary, I am encouraged to see that the Society of Jesus recognizes its educational obligations and continues to respond to the needs of the times by offering programs to underserved but deserving youth.

These young people will join the leadership in our communities in the future. The expectation is that more of these schools will open in years to come to help meet the serious educational challenges faced by so many of our poor, inner city youths.

Perhaps Fr. Michalski put it best when he said, “Making the dream available to these students isn’t something the Society of Jesus thinks is optional. It’s part of faith doing justice as our Society and Church direct us to do.”

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