A Milestone at Come To Believe: Welcome Asya and Carlos

Last week, Jews and Christians celebrated the feasts of Passover and Easter, feasts of new life, of victory over oppression and injustice. I’m thrilled to share that during this special time we welcome two Arrupe College graduates to CTB. We celebrate the life and energy they bring to our movement to address and change the oppression and injustice of educational opportunity gaps so many young people experience.

 As you know, the mission of CTB is the replication of the successful two-year Arrupe College model launched at Loyola University Chicago on other campuses at other universities around the country. Nothing validates our efforts more than the successes of our graduates. Arrupe “prepares its graduates to continue on to a bachelor’s program or move into meaningful employment” — a quote from the Arrupe mission statement.

I’d like to introduce Arrupe alumna Asya Meadows ‘17 and her fellow alumnus Carlos Martinez ‘19, our communications managers. Asya completed her degree in communications at Loyola University Chicago in 2019, and Carlos will graduate with his degree in marketing and public relations in May. At CTB, Asya and Carlos will create content for our website and social media presence, they will produce newsletters and other communications, they will research areas in higher education that CTB seeks to address, and they will be available to interact with higher ed leaders interested in learning more about our two-year college model. Although Asya and Carlos will work primarily in Chicago, I look forward to their presence in our New York offices as more and more of us are vaccinated and as the pandemic, please God, becomes more and more controlled.

 Asya Meadows was a member of Arrupe’s first class, pioneering much of what has become core characteristics for the CTB model. She served as the college’s student government president and was the student speaker at Arrupe’s first graduation. Attending Loyola on a full scholarship, she was a student diversity multicultural affairs officer on campus, and she currently works as a development and communications associate at a Chicago non-profit that helps elementary and secondary students with writing skills.

Carlos Martinez served as Arrupe’s vice-president, and forged a closer relationship between Arrupe and Loyola University which resulted in the college attaining membership at the larger university’s student government. Carlos participated in Arrupe’s study abroad in northern Spain, visiting sites associated with the life of St. Ignatius Loyola and the first Jesuits. As a Loyola scholarship recipient, Carlos has served as the university’s diversity committee chair. Outside of Loyola, he co-founded “Serving People with a Mission,” a leadership training program for Chicago youth.

 Please join me in welcoming Asya and Carlos and celebrating this milestone for CTB. Soon after Asya and her classmates enrolled in Arrupe’s first class, I said our role was to accompany students during their first postsecondary educational experiences. Now, Arrupe graduates are accompanying us at CTB as we attempt to scale our model nationally. Asya and Carlos will not only drive and deliver effective communications and help realize an inclusive culture, but they will also embody the true spirit of our mission and our work.

Happy Passover, Happy Easter, and be on the lookout for Asya and Carlos’s contributions to CTB! - Steve Katsouros, SJ