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

Publication: Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

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COPYRIGHT 2004 The Boston Globe

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...

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