At Cristo Rey Fort Worth’s Draft Day, students discovered where they will work, learn and begin testing their ambitions during the 2026–27 school year.
Inside Casa Mañana Theatre, Angel Arvizu was doing the quiet math of waiting.
One healthcare organization after another had already called its students, and every announcement narrowed the possibilities. His name still had not been called.
“I was honestly really stressed,” said Angel, a sophomore at Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep. “They had called a bunch of the healthcare companies, and I was really wondering, ‘What am I going to get?’ I was one of the last ones.”
For Angel, a lot was riding on the announcement. This was the workplace where he would report each week for the rest of the school year, clocking in at a Fort Worth-area organization, learning new skills and finding his place in a professional environment.
Then came the announcement: Texas Health Resources.
“In my head, I was like, ‘I’m going to be working in a hospital!’” Angel said. “I don’t really know what department I’m in, but I’m happy with my placement, and I’m excited to see what I get.”
That blend of uncertainty and possibility is the point of Draft Day, Cristo Rey Fort Worth’s NFL Draft-style celebration of its Corporate Work Study Program.
Through the program, students work one day each week at a local business or nonprofit while attending college-preparatory classes the other four days. For the 2026–27 school year, approximately 90 businesses and nonprofit organizations are participating, representing industries ranging from healthcare and engineering to law, finance, museums and higher education.
The students’ work helps cover approximately half the cost of their education, making a private, college-preparatory high school accessible to families with limited economic resources. Just as importantly, students begin building professional skills, networks and career awareness years before most of their peers.
For senior Miguel Garcia, that experience has helped turn a childhood interest into a possible career.
Miguel’s path to Cristo Rey began at church and at Trinity Basin Preparatory’s Bolt Campus, where he attended middle school. But he also had an example much closer to home.
His older sister, Jouselyn, graduated from Cristo Rey Fort Worth and is now a junior at Kansas State University, where she is studying Management Information Systems on a full scholarship. As the first in their family to attend college, her experience gave Miguel and his family a firsthand look at where the opportunities at Cristo Rey could lead.
“My family chose Cristo Rey because of the opportunities it provides students to prepare for their future, as well as the positive impact it had on my sister throughout her four years of high school,” Miguel said.
Still, Miguel remembers arriving as a shy freshman facing a major transition.
“I had to adapt to a new environment, meet new people and teachers, and step outside of my comfort zone,” Miguel said.
Over the next three years, that discomfort became practice. Through school and work, Miguel learned to communicate more confidently, act professionally, and take on leadership.
“Cristo Rey has helped me grow as a student and as a person,” he said.
It also helped him discover where his own interests might lead. Math has always come naturally to Miguel. Building has, too.
“Ever since I was little, I liked playing with Legos,” he said. “I spent most of my money on Lego sets, so it is something that has stuck with me for a long time.”
Through his Corporate Work Study experiences, Miguel began seriously considering civil engineering and environmental work as a career. He now dreams of studying engineering at Texas A&M University or The University of Texas at Austin.
That made his own wait at Draft Day especially meaningful.
Miguel’s name was also called late in the program. His nervousness quickly turned to excitement when he learned he had been matched with Halff, an infrastructure consulting firm and new Cristo Rey Fort Worth Corporate Work Study partner.
(Courtesy Image | Cristo Rey Fort Worth College Prep)
“As soon as I heard it was a new company, I was excited,” Miguel said. “I’m new to them, and they’re new to me. I’m trying to grow as a person while they grow as a company, and represent Cristo Rey well.”
The placement also represents another step in a professional journey that began well before his senior year. As a junior, Miguel had the opportunity to work with engineering firm Baird, Hampton & Brown. Now, at Halff, he will see different engineering applications while meeting a new group of professionals and potential mentors.
“I get to see new opportunities that are open to me,” Miguel said. “It’s an engineering firm, so it is something I’m really interested in and want to pursue in the future.”
For Angel, the Texas Health Resources placement is personal in a different way.
Since childhood, Angel has dealt with asthma and a weakened immune system. Doctors and nurses were not distant professionals; they were the people who helped make ordinary life more manageable.
“I’ve always seen how doctors and nurses helped me,” Angel said. “I want to be that person to somebody else. To help somebody feel better and go through life without having to worry so much about their health.”
Last year, Angel worked at Alcon in an office environment connected to manufacturing. A hospital will offer an entirely new experience, with unfamiliar routines, responsibilities and professionals.
That difference is exactly what excites him.
“I’m most excited about working within a hospital, with doctors and nurses who can hopefully help me with my future, and networking with them,” Angel said. “I’m excited to be in a new environment.”
Neither placement guarantees an easy year.
Cristo Rey students balance a rigorous academic schedule, college preparation, and the expectations of a professional workplace. Along the way, they learn not only how to complete assignments and workplace tasks, but how to enter unfamiliar rooms, communicate with adults, solve problems, and imagine themselves in careers they may never have encountered otherwise.
For employers, the Corporate Work Study Program offers something equally meaningful: an opportunity to participate directly in developing Fort Worth’s future workforce.
And for students like Miguel and Angel, that partnership can make an abstract ambition suddenly feel tangible.
Miguel can picture himself inside an engineering firm, building the skills that could one day lead him to a career designing infrastructure for communities. Angel can picture himself inside a hospital, learning alongside the same kinds of professionals who once cared for him.
For Miguel, success also carries a deeply personal goal.
“I want to make [my parents] proud of everything they have done for me,” he said. “One day, I want to support them in any way I can and give them the same opportunities and comfort they have given me.”
As the applause moved on to the next name at Draft Day, both students still had first days, new supervisors, and plenty to learn ahead of them.
Draft Day did not decide their futures.
But thanks to the partnership between Cristo Rey Fort Worth and the Fort Worth business community, it gave them a place to begin testing those futures in the real world.
And for Angel, the goal remains as clear as the care he once received:
“I just want to be that person to somebody else.”
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