With its college prep curriculum and its innovative Corporate Work Study Program, Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Takoma Park, Maryland, is known as “The School that Works,” and the top two students in the class of 2023 there – valedictorian Ghelila Isayas and salutatorian Giancarlos Reyes – reflected that motto, excelling in the classroom, on sports teams and in the workplaces where they were assigned.

Don Bosco Cristo Rey, a coeducational high school sponsored by The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the Salesians of Don Bosco, offers a rigorous academic curriculum for minority students from families with limited economic means. The school is known for its Corporate Work Study Program, where students gain experience working at leading Washington-area businesses, organizations and institutions and help pay for nearly one-half of their education costs. 

Ghelila Isayas, an 18-year-old native of Eritrea who now lives in Hyattsville, is the daughter of Isayas Afewerki and Rahel Berhe, and she has an older brother Asier who graduated from Don Bosco Cristo Rey last year and is now attending Montgomery College. Their father works as a truck driver, and she said, “From my dad, I basically learned everything,” especially persistence.

She added, “My dad, my mom, everybody fought for us to come to the United States. It’s the greatest blessing to get an education.”

At Don Bosco Cristo Rey, her favorite classes included Advanced Placement language and AP literature and all her math classes. This fall, Isayas will be attending George Washington University and plans to take classes geared toward a pre-law program and perhaps one day have a career in corporate law.

Through her school’s Corporate Work Study Program, Isayas worked at the American Health Law Association during her junior and senior years. She said the experience that she gained through the program “taught me a lot about the real world.”

“The most important thing I  learned is communications skills,” she said. “Because of me breaking out of my shell, I was able to get a job working there this past summer and the summer before.”

She teleworked from home for that job, and her duties included helping with data analytics on the association’s website and working with different departments there on the annual report. 

“I love teleworking… I am so persistent with it, I want to get my work done,” she said.

During the pandemic, she completed her classwork as a sophomore online, adding that was also a situation where she enjoyed working at home. But when in-person classes at Don Bosco Cristo Rey resumed during her junior year, she liked seeing her friends again.

At the school, Isayas has been a leader in the Student Government Association there, serving this year as vice president and earlier as secretary and as a junior class representative.

“I liked the experience of having to lead, having the ability to make decisions and getting the opinions of my classmates,” she said.

Isayas was the team captain on Don Bosco Cristo Rey’s volleyball team, and after competing for the Wolfpack, she received the Golden Wolf Award. She also served in youth ministry and as a student ambassador at the school and participated in its Chess Club.

As she looks forward to going to college at George Washington University, Isayas said she appreciated her high school years at Don Bosco Cristo Rey and   “the fact that every staff member knows your name and knows something about you. You are not a nobody walking around the hallways… I’m going to miss going to a school where everybody knows you.”

Another top student from the class of 2023 at Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School, Giancarlos Reyes, will be attending the University of Notre Dame, where he plans to major in computer science and dreams of being an entrepreneur some day, perhaps working in real estate or with investments.

Reyes, an 18-year-old Hyattsville resident, also praised the example of his parents, who are immigrants from El Salvador. His father Demetrio Reyes works as a construction foreman, and his mother Mayra Bardales has worked at a kitchen. His older brother Anthony Reyes graduated from Don Bosco Cristo Rey and is now serving in the Marines.

His parents, he said, have taught him the importance of perseverance. “They show up (to work) every day, never late,” Reyes said.

Like many of his school’s graduates, Reyes will be among the first members of his family to go on to college. “I feel like I can break down generational barriers,” he said.

This school year through the Corporate Work Study Program, Reyes worked at Caldwell CPA in Bethesda, and he earlier worked for the United States Catholic Mission Association and for Capital Hilton Finance. When he began participating in the program as a freshman, “that was the first time I was brought out in a work setting,” he said, adding that it helped him gain confidence and not be shy around other people.

Reyes was the captain on the Wolfpack boys’ soccer team that won the inaugural Cristo Rey Cup this past fall. Teams from Cristo Rey schools from Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond and the Washington area competed for the soccer tournament championships played on the Georgetown Preparatory School field in North Bethesda. 

“It was fun. Everybody was together,” said Reyes, praising his team’s effort in winning the tournament, which the girls’ soccer team from Don Bosco Cristo Rey also won.

Reyes also participated in the Chess Club at his school, competing in school-wide and regional competitions. “I’ve very competitive,” he said.

His favorite classes included AP language and algebra II, and he served as a student ambassador at Don Bosco Cristo Rey. He said the school’s smaller size allows students to connect with teachers and each other in a tight-knit community.

Asked what lessons from the school that he will take to heart in college and in life, Reyes said, “Always help those around you. Always give someone a helping hand… Be a good person. What you give out is what you get back.”

As the salutatorian for his class, Reyes gave a talk during the June 1 graduation ceremony. “I’m looking forward to it,” he said beforehand, adding that one message that he wanted to share with his classmates is “whatever you set your mind to, you can achieve it. You can’t fail if you believe in yourself.”