The Jesuit Work Study College Prep in Los Angeles Annual Report 2010-2011 Verbum Dei Seniors attend “The California Jesuit Excellence Tour.” A Word from our President Dear Friends, Bruce Juell, corporate chief executive, investment broker, consultant, venture capitalist, and friend of the Verb wrote a book a few years ago entitled The Retirement Activities Guide, Things To Do When Golf and Grandkids Aren’t Enough. An early chapter is named “First Things First” in which Bruce says you can’t find Fulfillment in retirement unless you “make sure that your Financial house is in as good a shape as it can be, that you are tend- ing to your health and Fitness, that your relationships with your Family and Friends are what they should be.” Bruce’s advice works well for those in retirement, I’m sure, but also for all of us engaged in making Verbum Dei be the best place for the young men who come to us for a Catholic, Jesuit college-prep education – first things first. As we celebrate our 50th year as a school and our tenth as a Cristo Rey school with the corporate work-study program, it is your generosity that is guaranteeing that our financial house is in order. The health and fitness of our academic program through the Cristo Rey Educational Enrichment Initiative and our partnership with the LMU School of Education has never been better. Under the leadership of our principal, our Dean of Student and Family Support, and our director of Corporate Work-Study and others we have initiated a number of bet- ter ways to communicate with our students’ families and have begun to offer various opportunities for parents/ guardians to meet each other and work together for the good of their sons; already a “family,” we are becoming friends. First things first so that we can offer our students fulfillment – a chance to be safe, a chance to learn the dignity of work, a chance to get to college, a chance to discover their talents and match them up with the world’s needs – a chance to make a difference in their families, with their friends, and in our community. Thank you for your prayers, your interest in what we are achieving, your encouragement, and your financial help. God bless you! William Muller, S.J. President A Word from our Board Chair Dear Friends, As an alumnus and the current Chairman of the Verbum Dei High School (“The Verb”) Board of Advisors, I am honored to offer you our 2011 Annual Report. As you may know, we begin our fiftieth year as a beacon of hope for higher learning in Watts and the surrounding communities. The Verb’s mission is to remain focused on giving under- served—both economically and academically— young gentlemen an opportunity to achieve their dreams of graduat- ing from college and living successful lives as men with and for others. Students and their families quickly come to understand the importance of a college preparatory education, as it is a large part of school culture the moment they step onto the campus. Also, our students are immersed in our unique Corporate Work Study Program which provides an innovative hands-on experience in the world of commerce and in- dustry that not only helps them to support their educational costs, but often provides them a level of practical experi- ence which is often beyond many college graduates. I am honored to report that during the last fiscal year Verbum Dei had several impressive achievements: 1) We developed a new ambitious program at the Verb: the Math and Science Enrichment Initiative (MSEI), a $500K project. MSEI will employ a comprehensive strategy, incorporating current best teaching practices, a partnership with LMU’s Center for Math and Science Teaching, the use of state of the art technology, innovative methodology, and updated curricula with the Verb math and science disciplines to position ourselves as a pipeline for young men of color to gain college acceptance, and be competitive in, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields and professions. 2) In keeping with our Catholic, Jesuit mission, all students have the opportunity to take part in student retreats at no cost to the students. We added an overnight freshmen retreat last year that was tremendously successful at bring- ing together the freshmen class for prayer and brotherhood. Sophomores and Juniors participate in one day retreats. All seniors have the opportunity to participate on the 3 day Kairos Retreat at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center. Many graduates say that Kairos was the most powerful and memorable experience they had at Verbum Dei. 3) In June 2011, 100% of our graduating seniors were accepted into college—72% were accepted into four-year col- leges ranging from Georgetown, UCLA, Cal State LA, Howard, and Marist. 4) Our students are committed to doing justice. We offer two Immersion/Social Justice trips throughout the year to Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Mexico border. Additionally, students take part in two weekend “service plunges,” where they get the opportunity to serve the homeless in downtown and East LA and stand in solidarity with the home- less by staying overnight at homeless shelters. Our service and social justice club called Verb in Action is thriving and has just partnered with the LMU men’s service organization called Magis for mentoring and additional service oppor- tunities. These accomplishments show that our program is working and making for a brighter future. In closing, I would like to thank everyone who has supported the Verb mission to provide opportunities to those who are underserved yet willing to work hard to achieve all of their dreams. Specifically, I wish to thank the dedicated faculty, staff, volunteers, corporate sponsors, individual donors, and foundations. Gratefully, Kurt Hocker ‘84 Board Chair STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011 Revenues: Tuition/Fees (including grant from Catholic Education Foundation) 439,000 Grant from Corporate Work-Study Program 1,200,000 Contributions (individual, corporate, foundation) 2,263,000 Other Income 383,000 4,285,000 Expenses: Education/Instruction 1,733,000 Administration 822,000 Student Activities and Support Services 669,000 Facilities and Maintenance 424,000 3,648,000 Contributions: Individual Gifts 794,000 Corporate Gifts 72,000 Foundation Grants 1,362,000 Gifts from Jesuit Communities 35,000 2,263,000 Total Cost of Education per Student: Average Tuition and Fees Paid/Aid 1,756 Average Tuition Assistance Grant 1,194 Average Scholarship Grant 6,842 Average Contribution from Work-Study Program 4,800 14,592 Tuition/Fees 2010/2011 Revenues Other Income (including grant 9% from Catholic Education Foundation) Contributions 10% (individual, corporate, foundation) Grant from 53% Corporate Work Study Program 28% 2010/2011 Expenses Facilities and Maintenance 12% Student Activities and Support Education and Services Instruction 18% 48% Administration 22% Education Report Card School Total on Students on Students on Students on Students on Seniors Year Honor Roll Dean's List Principal's List President's List Scholar's Gaining GPA: 3.0 - 3.39 GPA: 3.4 - 3.69 GPA: 3.7 - 3.99 List College GPA: 4.0 - up Acceptances 2010- 2011 0.28% 17.00% 7.29% 3.64% 0.40% 100.00% 2009- 2010 0.16% 10.98% 2.27% 1.89% 0.40% 100.00% “Despite implementing a much more rigorous College Readiness curriculum, we have had another wonderfully successful school year with increases in numbers of students on the Dean’s List, Principal’s List, and President’s List. And I am proud to say, we have had four years of one hundred percent of our seniors gaining acceptances into colleges and universities across the country. These achievements are possible because of the hard work, passion, and dedication of our faculty and staff.” ~ Daniel O’Connell, Ed.D. Principal Corporate Work Study Program Report Card School Students Students with Students with Year Fired/Pulled Good Marks Outstanding from Job Marks 2010-2011 0.40% 47.00% 44.00% 2009-2010 1.50% 41.00% 54.00% “The Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) has had another great year. Given the increased attention the CWSP team gave individual students, we decreased our number of fired/pulled students to under a half of a percent. Struggling students received one-on-one coaching from their program coordinators as well as additional training on the job. Thus, students were encouraged and motivated to perform better at work. We are working with our CWSP supervisors to use the students’ evaluations as a tool to provide feedback for growth rather than an evaluation of the student himself. Hence, we saw an increase in the number of students with good marks to 47 percent. While the percentage of students with outstanding marks decreased by 10 percent, we were pleased knowing that supervisors were providing information that reflected the students’ true performance without the fear of penalizing him. Students were meeting supervisor expectations and supervisors were giving students constructive criticism.” ~ Mrs. Cristina Cuellar-Villanueva Director of Operations, CWSP OUR MISSION: Verbum Dei is a Catholic, Jesuit, college and career preparatory, complemented by our corporate internship program, serving young men of Watts and the surrounding communities who are economically and academically underserved. We develop self-confident gentlemen who are intellectually motivated, spiritual, contemplative, and courageous in their pursuit of a more humane and just world. 2010-2011 Honor Roll of Donors - In these pages, we are proud to recognize the cumulative giving of donors. As you read through this listing, know how grateful we the Verbum Dei Gentlemen are to each and everyone of you.