Case Study

Providing high school students with career experience to last a lifetime

At Baker Tilly, we believe in the value of education. Each year, select Baker Tilly offices hire students from the national Cristo Rey Network of high schools. The program gives students real-world experience and the opportunity to see the benefits of a college education. 

The Cristo Rey Network is comprised of 32 high schools across the nation, providing students with a demonstrated financial need with a quality, Catholic, college preparatory education.

For Cristo Rey’s Corporate Work Study Program, students generally work (while maintaining a full college preparatory curriculum) one full day each week at companies including Baker Tilly.

Opportunity for a lifetime

For students, the work program gives them much-needed funds for their education and has had a measureable impact on student achievement.

Students are given invaluable hands-on experience and opportunity to develop marketable skills. They get a keener understanding of business and the important role education plays in professional development and goal attainment.

More than 90 percent of Cristo Rey graduates enroll in post-secondary education. They complete bachelor’s degrees at 2.5 times the rate of high school graduates from low-income families nationwide.

Their experience allows then to expand their network, of course. But it also provides exposure to many of the career fields that may interest or motivate them. Baker Tilly is proud to help create this important beginning for so many.

Great for us, too

Naturally, the main goal of the program is to provide assistance to young men and women with financial need and give them a view into the value and possibilities of education.

But Baker Tilly team members also get a lot out of the firm’s participation in the Cristo Rey Corporate Work Study program. Our team members have found it is tremendously rewarding to be engaged with the Cristo Rey students—a reward beyond money and status. It has allowed them to ‘give back’ and feel proud of the time they spend at work and with these students. It also has helped them develop their mentoring skills and meaningfully share their own personal and professional histories.

Our team members also gain greater insight into the diversity of our communities and the challenges so many of these young students face.

Baker Tilly team members have been enriched and rewarded, and many have grown like the tremendous young men and women we are proud to call our Cristo Rey students.

Learn more about the Cristo Rey Network program.

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