When Leonah moved from Uganda to Massachusetts in late 2021, she faced a difficult transition. The first school she attended was large and lacked diversity, leaving her feeling unseen and unsupported. “It was hard to adjust,” she shares. “The teachers didn’t check in with me and I struggled to keep up.”
Her path changed when another parent from her church recommended Cristo Rey Boston. To learn more about the school, Leonah’s mother, who rarely drives on the highway, drove them from Waltham to Dorchester so they could visit. Leonah recalls, “Once I saw the community and the diversity, and met the staff and teachers, I felt like I could be successful here.”
From her first days at CRB, Leonah felt the difference. Teachers checked in, stayed after school, and created classrooms where students learned from one another. “CRB was inviting,” she says. “Every teacher cared about how I was doing. I was excited to come to school.” By the end of her freshman year, she had earned all A’s, an achievement she still takes pride in.
The Corporate Work Study Program also shaped her growth. In her placement at Empower during her junior year, she found a supportive group of mentors who gave her the opportunity to learn self-supervision and time management by supporting event planning. The skills she learned there prepared her for her current placement with Rockland Trust as a bank teller where she’s learning financial literacy and customer service.
Leonah’s future path was also shaped by her academic experiences at CRB. Though classes like biology and AP Environmental Science challenged her, her perseverance and commitment to learning the material helped develop her interest in human health. She plans to study biology or pre-med in college and hopes to become an anesthesiologist.
Faith grounds much of Leonah’s life. She attends Mass weekly and is active in the Ugandan Catholic Community of Boston. Her mother is her biggest inspiration and taught her the importance of perseverance, prayer, and caring for others. This perspective also informs her career path – her interest in medicine is motivated by her care for others. “I don’t want people to suffer,” she says. “I want to help make medical care safer.”
As she prepares for college, Leonah reflects on CRB as the place that helped her build confidence in herself during a difficult transition and gave her opportunities to discover her potential. This Advent, her story reminds us of the hope and renewal that comes from being supported by a community. For Leonah, that community is Cristo Rey Boston.