Emilia had been raising her family in Hopewell, Virginia, and initially assumed private schools were out of reach for Hispanic families like hers. That changed when she heard about scholarship opportunities for Latino students during a Mass one Sunday morning.
“It was like a light shining on our family,” Emilia recalled.
Emilia moved her family to Richmond so her eldest son, Abraham, could enroll at All Saints Catholic School, even having him repeat eighth grade so he could experience at least one year there before moving on to high school. He went on to attend Benedictine College Preparatory, an experience that Emilia credits with transforming him from a skeptic of religion to a man of deep faith.
Abraham’s younger sister, Xóchitl Luis, followed her brother into Catholic education, first at All Saints, then at Cristo Rey Richmond High School, where she became one of the school’s inaugural graduates. Though she initially dreamed of attending St. Gertrude High School, she said she found unexpected joy at Cristo Rey.
“I loved my teachers, I loved the experience,” said Xóchitl, noting she still keeps in touch with several staff members years later. She is now studying psychology at the Catholic University of America, not too far from home in Washington, D.C.
Her younger brothers, Valentin and Maximo, also attended All Saints and now attend Cristo Rey, entering their third and second years there.
Both brothers recount how All Saints helped them build their faith from a young age, especially their religion teacher.
“She really helped me get closer to God and build that spiritual connection I needed,” said Valentin.
All three siblings spoke fondly of their years at All Saints, describing a close-knit community bound by shared faith and tradition. Xóchitl remembered a school-wide “jog-a-thon,” years in the school choir, and a rotation of clubs, including crochet and environmental action.
And while Valentin and Maximo are still amid their time at Cristo Rey, they both really enjoy the work-study aspect of the school.
Reflecting on his time as a work-study student in the Diocese of Richmond’s communications office, Maximo said the experience helped him grow more confident. “I don’t really like talking that much,” he said, “but the internship helped me open up and learn to communicate.”
Xóchitl, Valentin, and Maximo’s younger brother, Benjamin, is now in elementary school at All Saints, and Emilia is grateful that all of her kids have had this experience together.
And now that her two oldest children are out of the Catholic schools, she looks back and knows that they both went where they were meant to. “All Saints, Benedictine, Cristo Rey, they’ve helped us a lot,” said Emilia. And after all these years, discovering Catholic schools is still like a light shining on their family.
All of Emilia’s children were recipients of the McMahon Parater Scholarship, a program that makes Catholic education possible through donations to Virginia’s Education Improvement Scholarship Tax Credit Program (EISTC). Donors can receive a 65 percent tax credit on their entire donation, plus additional tax savings. Learn more about supporting Catholic education and how you can change the lives of families like Emilia’s.
By Ryley McGinnis Lester