Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep students reflect on faith and work
(L-R) Giselle Madrigal, Christopher Avelar, and Kera Worobiec at Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep on January 21, 2025. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
Navigating high school is tough, and finding one’s bearings in the workplace can be even harder.
At Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Preparatory in Fort Worth, the school’s unique work-study program places students in one of 70 different professional settings, where they work five days a month.
In addition to academic and business pursuits, students receive a firm foundation in the Catholic faith. Three Cristo Rey students share their spiritual growth and its effects in their work-study placements and in the classroom with the North Texas Catholic.
Put to the test
Junior Christopher Avelar feels quite fortunate his work-study placement is with Alliance Airport.
“It’s not like an office job. I’m out with the planes, so it was very cool to get that kind of job and stick with it throughout my high school life,” he said. “I got very lucky.”
Each month, the 17-year-old is switched to a different department.
“Sometimes I’m with air operations, the ones who fuel the planes, who are like the backbone of the company, and sometimes I’m with the maintenance people who fix up the office,” Avelar said. “I’m always moving, so I’m not really stuck in an office except when I’m with accounting, but that’s very rare.”
At work, the teenager said he’s very work centered. “I don’t really communicate that much with my coworkers because I just want to get my job done, and when the topic [of religion] does come up, I am more reserved about it.”
He recalled one lunch encounter with an older coworker, a Protestant preacher, who questioned him about Mary and his prayer life.
“I started thanking my teachers because I put my knowledge to the test, and started answering these questions,” he said.
It was nerve-racking, but the experience helped Avelar realize just how much he’d grown since he’d entered Cristo Rey.
“As a kid, I did pray at night and stuff, but I never really found a good reason to do those things,” he admitted. “I never found the meaning behind praying until I got here and finally realized that prayer is essential to having a good relationship with Christ.”
The high school junior initially entered the Catholic school with reluctance, having attended public school through eighth grade.
“I wasn’t really interested in the faith,” Avelar said. “When my mom talked to me about Cristo Rey, I was like, I do not want to go there. I wanted to go to a public school with my friends.”
He recalled feeling daunted about taking theology class and speaking with others outside his immediate family about his relationship with God. With time, he opened up in the welcoming school environment and has come to grow in his prayer life.
“Now that I have a good — well, a decent — relationship with God, I’m able to have a better life, and I’ve seen a noticeable difference from how I acted before I came here and how I’m acting now,” Avelar shared.
Upon graduation, Avelar hopes to attend Texas Christian University and study journalism or political science. In the meantime, he hopes to grow in communicating his faith with others, including his friends.
“How I communicate is a reflection of God and being a Catholic,” he said.
Change in plans
Sophomore Giselle Madrigal began her time at Cristo Rey with a very clear vision of what lay ahead.
“I wanted to attend Texas A&M and be able to pursue a career as an immigration attorney because it’s a very, very important topic for me, and I felt very passionate about it,” the 16-year-old said.
When she learned about her placement at Texland Petroleum, she was excited to work alongside the corporation’s legal staff. However, nearly two years into the program, Madrigal’s laid-out plans are now beginning to change.
“I’m still trying to discern my calling, but overall, my personal roadmap through life is possibly taking me to the University of Dallas to study theology and enter the convent,” she said.
The St. George Catholic School alum explained her time in the corporate environment, where she and her coworkers handle “more than 1,100 wells across the entire south of the United States” is very demanding.
“My main goal right now and for years to come is to become a better representation of Christ,” she said. “To not only use words to spread the Gospel but with actions.”
Madrigal said her experience in the workplace has helped her reframe her priority to grow in a relationship with Christ instead of pursuing a desire to doggedly accumulate financial wealth.
“There is this constant battle between the world and Christ, you know?” she explained. “I do believe there’s a good balance between financial wealth and a good relationship with Christ.
“It’s just really hard,” she continued, “because we’re demanded to be a certain way [in the corporate workspace]. ... We are all in this constant battle between choosing what society wants us to think or if we follow what Christ wants.”
Looking back, Madrigal would remind her younger self to follow in St. Anna’s footsteps and always trust in the Lord.
“Everything has a purpose, and that purpose is always good.”
Strength in adversity
Although her plans for future studies are still in the works, 17-year-old Kera Worobiec is well on her way to finding a balance within herself that will lay a solid foundation for the rest of her life.
The high school junior started with a placement with Tarrant Regional Water District before moving to the communications and marketing departments at General Motors Financial during the spring semester of her sophomore year.
“At first, I was kind of afraid,” Worobiec said. “There were a lot of times where I was very hesitant, and I didn’t know what I was doing, but I kept going and telling myself it’s okay, it’s all new.
“Some days, I only got through it because I was praying the whole time,” Worobiec admitted. “It was a whole learning experience simply being at a corporate company, and it taught me a lot.”
Juggling classes and work-study and all the smaller aspects of school life hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but the St. John the Apostle Catholic School alum has found that the adversity she’s encountered has made her stronger.
“I’ve accomplished these things simply because I chose to wake up every morning, get out of my bed, and go to school,” Worobiec said. “That’s amazing because God has allowed me to do that for a reason.”
Moving forward, she hopes to share her faith with more confidence.
“I’ve kind of had this dream recently of wanting to spread the word of God among the students,” Worobiec shared, expressing an interest in starting up an apologetics study group at school. “That’s something I’ve had in my heart for a while.”