The first day of classes at Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Takoma Park, Maryland, on Aug. 31, 2021 also marked a homecoming day for the nearly 400 students there, as they all gathered together for in-person classes for the first time since the coronavirus shutdown in March 2020 closed their campus and shifted their classes online.

“No more Zoom meetings. Best of all, no more isolation,” said junior Ashley Chavez, the president of the school’s Student Government Association, who addressed juniors and seniors gathered at Our Lady of Sorrows Church for the traditional Founder’s Day Mass opening their school year. From their school building next door, sophomores and freshmen viewed a livestreamed transmission of the opening talks and the Mass.

Congratulating the students for “pushing through 15 months of virtual learning,” she said, “The Wolfpack is back in the building! This is our school, to many of us, it is our second home.”

Chavez encouraged students to live out the school’s motto, “Be who you are, and be it well,” a quote attributed to St. Francis de Sales.

Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington and the Salesians of Don Bosco, offers a college preparatory education to students from low-income families. The students participate in an innovative Corporate Work Study Program, where they gain professional work experience at leading Washington-area businesses and institutions and earn money to pay for a significant part of their education costs.

Elias Blanco, the school’s principal, welcomed students, saying it was important “to begin the new school year in prayer, asking for God’s blessings as we embark on a new year.”

He acknowledged the past year and one-half had been “really challenging for all of us… Hopefully it’s given us a new respect and appreciation for what’s really important.”

“Let us begin this new school year really asking for God’s guidance,” Blanco said, adding, “I’m really grateful to the Lord and all of you for this school and its mission. We truly believe what we do at Don Bosco Cristo Rey in academics, work study and faith formation is important for the future.” 

During the Mass, Salesian Father Louis Molinelli said it was fitting to open the school year with a Mass of the Holy Spirit.

“Today we call upon the Holy Spirit… After 15 months of quarantine, the Holy Spirit has a lot of work to do, to make us on fire with what God wants us to do,” he said.

The priest – who serves as the provincial delegate for youth ministry, including Catholic schools and boys and girls clubs sponsored by the Eastern Province of the Salesians in the United States and Canada – encouraged students to live in the spirit of St. John Bosco, their order’s founder and a patron saint of youth.

“Do the ordinary things in life extraordinarily well,” he said.

Father Molinelli noted that St. John Bosco emphasized that Jesus  can be found not only in the tabernacle, but also in every person.

“Encounter the Lord wherever he is found…” the priest said. “God is to be found in every person in this school and every person who comes into your life. Honor that person because they are the image of God.”

The Salesian said it was important for the students to form a community, because God had brought them together.

Lastly, he encouraged the students to transform the world by the way they live their lives. “You actions every day can change the world, by your kindness, love and generosity,” he said.

During the Mass, Salesian Father Manny Gallo was commissioned as the school’s director of mission. “He’s your pastor in the school,” said Father Molinelli.

The concelebrants at the Mass included Father Shaun Foggo, the pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish. Students in the church wore face masks and sat at social distances in accord with COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Kelly Branaman, the Secretary for Catholic Schools and Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Washington, addressed the students after Mass, saying it was a blessing for them to be together as a community again.

Before the Mass, Rich Dumais – the new interim president of Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School – said the pandemic had been especially challenging for the school, since it impacted potential employers who could be partners in the Corporate Work Study Program, which now has 75 participating businesses and is seeking more.

“We need corporate job partners – that’s the lifeblood of the school,” he said.

Dumais praised the school’s work in giving students “an equal playing field and the opportunities they deserve,” and he added, “From day one, 100 percent of our kids have been accepted into college. For students from these communities, that’s extraordinary.”

(For information on becoming a partner in the Corporate Work Study Program at Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School, go to https://dbcr.org/partner/.)