Cambridge, Mass., students sacrifice school day for job training.

Byline: James Vaznis

Nov. 30--CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- One day every week, they gather promptly at 7:30 a.m. in the cafeteria of North Cambridge Catholic High School, dozens of boys in neatly pressed shirts and ties and girls in jackets and knee-length skirts.

They bless themselves with the sign of the cross before an administrator recites the morning prayer: "Spirit of our Living God, bless the work of our hands, our minds, and our hearts today. In doing our work, give us the courage to listen for the stirring of your presence at our jobs."

A fleet of vans and buses then whisks the students away to various companies around Boston and along Route 128, and they work an eight-hour day. Students don't get paid; their school does. The students have signed over their paychecks to the school, raising about $1.1 million, so it can remain open.

North Cambridge Catholic, responding to a call from the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to become financially independent this year, has joined a growing number of Catholic high schools nationwide that pair religious studies and work. The idea is to help the schools pay for operating expenses, keep tuition down, and expose the students to corporate America. The students, many of whom come from Boston's poorest neighborhoods, see firsthand what a college education can deliver.

Complementing classroom lessons with work experience is not new, but North Cambridge Catholic and the 10 other Catholic schools in the Cristo Rey Network stand apart from other schools because their students forfeit a full day of classes for work and give up the paycheck.

To Jacquelin Sanchez, the daughter of Colombian and Guatemalan immigrants, giving up $5,000 in pay this year is a once-in-a-lifetime investment.