Colleen McCoy-Cejka:
Did you know in Arizona taxpayers have choices about where to direct their state taxes? If you have a desire to help families afford the education they choose for their children, sit back, listen and be inspired. You are listening to Creating Future Leaders with Catholic Education Arizona.
Nancy Padberg:
Hello everyone and welcome to Creating Future Leaders Podcast here at Catholic Education Arizona. We have incredible guests with us today. We have Principal Javier Bravo and Dean Ryan Costello from Bourgade Catholic High School. Today we’re going to talk about the importance of Catholic Education, and what exciting things are happening at Bourgade.
I’m Nancy Padberg, I’m the President and CEO of Catholic Education Arizona and I want to thank you for tuning in and listening to us today. So Catholic Education Arizona, who are we: We are a school tuition organization (STL)-there are about 65 STL’s in the state of Arizona. But what we focus on is we turn tax credit contributions from individuals and corporations into scholarships for students. So we like to say we create future leaders, or at least we help, because I really think you guys at Bourgade do that.
So today’s guests are here to discuss the important developments at Bourgade Catholic High School, and how CEA and Bourgade have enjoyed a long and strong relationship over the years. And I’m happy to learn more today about the new opportunities for students at Bourgade. So welcome to the program, Javier and Ryan. Can each of you introduce yourselves?
Javier Bravo:
Thank you, Nancy. My name is Javier Bravo, and I serve as the Principal at Bourgade Catholic High School. I’ve been here since 2009 as a teacher, and now serve as the principal.
Nancy Padberg:
Excellent, welcome. Ryan?
Ryan Costello:
Thank you so much, Nancy. My name is Ryan Costello. I am the Dean of Students at Bourgade Catholic High School. This is my second year in the position, and I came from St. John Vianney in Goodyear, Arizona, where I taught seventh and eighth grade for eight years.
Nancy Padberg:
Welcome! So really today what we wanted to talk about-there are some new programs happening at Bourgade, and I understand it is a CTE program. It’s now available. Javier, can you tell me a little bit about how this program came into existence and why is it so important to your student community?
Javier Bravo:
This program has had some years in the making. It began with conversations with, back then, the President and Vice President of the school board. And we wanted to take into account our demographic and the students and families that we serve, to provide opportunities for them. And we just started throwing out ideas. We thought how wonderful it would be if we could provide some sort of a certificate program to the students that come through Bourgade Catholic High School. So that when they leave, those that choose to-aside from their diploma, and a college acceptance letter-could also have a certificate to enter the workforce and do some work either for their time in college, or if they were to choose to, to continue within the workforce. So that’s where it all kind of began.
And so we began kind of researching into that and we looked at the schools that had programs similar to what we were looking at. We found a Catholic school back East, and we were looking at what they were doing. And so it began as this dream. And then it slowly evolved and kind of grew life. And the moment that I think there was the turn of the corner was in the midst of COVID. Mr. Costello and I were sitting outside, we were taking some packets through a drive-thru line, and we were sitting there looking at this empty field that we have, which we refer to as the North Quad. And that’s where we also started dreaming. So I’ll let Mr. Castillo take it from there.
Ryan Costello:
Yeah, I saw this North Quad. And we were sitting, like two old men waiting for guards to drive by, under a tree and just thinking, “What could go on this North Quad? What could be there?”. And I very, very similarly said, “We should put a fire school there. That’d be really cool. Do you know how they train firefighters in those buildings? That would be really cool to have one of those on our North Quad”. And of course, that was mostly in jest, but I was like this could be a really cool thing. And as we moved forward, it turned out that comment was way more in tune with what was happening at Bourgade than I had realized. There were these discussions about providing career and technical education for our students.
A couple weeks later, we did our homecoming really, really early last year. And we did our senior night really, really early for the football team, because we just didn’t know how long football was going to be going on or if we’d be having games. And our Athletic Director asked me, “Mr. Costello, would you mind reading the Seniors’ names for our Senior Night Ceremony?”. It was a ton of fun. Little did I know, there were like 17 or 18 seniors on that football team, so it was a much bigger job than I had expected. But I read through these sheets of seniors, and what they had done in their time at Bourgade, what they aspired to do, what colleges they wanted to go to, and what they wanted to study.
As I flipped through major after intended major, I thought, “These kids could be studying this now. This is what’s meaningful. This is what’s purposeful. This is what’s interesting and fun for them. Why aren’t they doing it in high school?”. And we looked back and 16 out of the 18 intended majors had a career in a Technical Education equivalent field of study. So that led us to-okay, let’s make this happen. Maybe not building a fire school this year. But how can we get our kids attached to these programs that are so meaningful to what they want to do?
Nancy Padberg:
That’s fantastic! Well, who knew a conversation like that could turn into reality, and so quickly? So, why is it so important to your student community?
Javier Bravo:
For a couple of reasons-we want them to have as many opportunities open to them. We still serve a lot of students who are the first to go to college. And so that is a piece of it-forming the whole student, which is a cornerstone in Catholic education, that’s also a piece of it. And what I had mentioned before-giving and ensuring that we provide for them the skills and the tools necessary for them to have that sustainability while they are at college. Those are reasons that this was an important move for our students in this community we serve.
Nancy Padberg:
I like how you really talked about forming the whole student, really its what we get to do on a daily basis and form them for life. Specifically about this program, are there certain qualifications or an application process they have to consider?
Ryan Costello:
This program we’re doing is actually through a separate school district in the state of Arizona that goes about career and technical education. It provides home high schools, public schools typically, the opportunity to provide programs. Some programs include Medical Assisting programs or Nursing Services programs at the local school. These programs can be really costly for schools, and it can be really hard to find professionals to provide a really quality program. So throughout Arizona, there are these school districts.
It’s about to get very alphabet soup, but I think it’s called CTED, which are Career and Technical Education Districts. When I heard that we had been talking about CTED at Bourgade for a long time, I remembered when I was teaching a Sacraments class at St. John Vianney for our parish, some high schoolers would roll into my Sacraments class in their scrubs. And as I had conversations with them, they explained that they do part of their day at their home High School, and then go to these separate campuses known as West-Mec, the Western Medical Education Center that provides these programs that home high schools can’t necessarily provide for students.
I found this particularly interesting because my kids could not only tell me about this great Medical Assisting or Aesthetician program that they were in, but the next week, they would roll in and tell me about their English class where they were reading Beowulf. And if you want to talk about educating the whole child, this is a kid that can tell me all about medical records, how they’re filed and legal issues with them, as well as talk to me about Beowulf. That’s a well-rounded kid.
Nancy Padberg:
I’ll say, that’s incredible! So good.
Ryan Costello:
So we started talking with West-Mec, we being Bourgade, and learned that those programs are free to anyone that lies in their partnering school districts. So, free as far as tuition is concerned, there are small fees of less than $200 that are in play there. But our students, being in those school districts, would just need to fill out an application. They have a rubric that the school counselors fill out, and they submit them to West-Mec, and they can be accepted into those programs.
Nancy Padberg:
That’s incredible. Tell me what does CTED stand for, again?
Ryan Costello:
Career and Technical Education.
Nancy Padberg:
Now, does this program make Bourgade stand out in some special way?
Javier Bravo:
Absolutely. At this time, we are the only Catholic High School that offers this opportunity. So we have a group of kids with scientists at a small one so that we can work out the process. And we rejoice with the support of Mr. Dominic, the superintendent who also went with us with some meetings with the West-Mec superintendent. We wanted to start small again so we can kind of figure out the kinks, if you will.
But that is one of the first things that makes us stand out. We are the only school that has this type of partnership, that has looked at everything that’s involved, as Mr. Costello was mentioning with regards to the finances, and that we are providing this opportunity and walking students through the application process. Which again, it’s also new to West-Mec themselves, that our school is so involved as we work with our kids, so they know that we are forming a very, very good partnership, and they’re very happy with the partnership. So it’s very intentional.
We look at it definitely as a Holy Family model, if you will, where we looked at the child Jesus (the logo sets the academic side of Bourgade Catholic, you know), we’re working with that college prep curriculum with the Blessed Virgin Mary; that service in the helping form, students who understand the heart that’s necessary in service modeled after the Blessed Virgin Mary. And with the West-Mec program, we now break in, in a very visible way, the work of St. Joseph, the worker.
Ryan Costello:
I might add on-a partnership with West-Mec is really new in the Diocese of Phoenix. And we’re the only Catholic school that has that kind of relationship. But I also think this is a point of difference that has always really been true of Bourgade. One of the things that drew me to this school is I had seen my former students, when they left St. John Vianney, came to Bourgade, which was just this total place of yes-they lived it out, Mary speaks so beautifully. From the very beginning, families came and said, “I want a Catholic education for my kid”.
And I don’t know if it’s possible to do the work some amazing heroes on our campus do to make sure that all types of learners have the support that they need and the ability for our students to engage in. I was astonished at how many extracurricular programs a small Catholic school could have. I went to a small Catholic High School myself of 400 kids. We didn’t have near the amount of programming that Bourgade does for its kids. So this to me is just a continuation of that, that so many heroes at Bourgade have been a part of for so very long. And we really, really can’t wait until we can add an additional Yes, which is that you don’t have to go to West Point. You don’t have to leave our campus for this programming. You can go to this building right over here. And you can get those certifications right here in that genuinely and authentically Catholic environment.
Nancy Padberg:
It really it sounds like an incredible point of differentiation for your school. Tell me a little bit more about this culture of Yes, I’m intrigued. I think our listeners will be too.
Javier Bravo:
We believe firmly that every family who desires a Catholic education needs to have that opportunity. Our sister schools do that. But we take that extra step. So we are small heroes in the finance department. The wonderful two rounds and Michelle Maria, just constantly meet with families, groups, individuals. The wonderful Mr. Yamato who works with students who may have special needs, working together with the school districts that represent them, or where they reside, and then ensuring that they have the supports that they need. We say yes, yes, you can come here.
We tell that student who we challenged, who we see as our mission to help them discover their God given potential, and develop that God given potential. So we see those opportunities. We work with those families who would think not just financially but perhaps by some specific means that their child may have. We say, yes, you can come to Bourgade, we will make this opportunity work for you. We will work with our staff, we work with the families, we will build this partnership so that your child has that opportunity to receive a Catholic education.
Ryan Costello:
Now we can say you can leave certified to work with an electrician, you can leave as a certified EMT, you can leave as a Certified Medical Assistant. These are all things that our kids are going to get to walk out of our doors with this year, in addition to that college acceptance letter and opportunity that they’ve left Bourgade with, for a really long time.
Nancy Padberg:
We’ve talked a little bit about our partnership between Bourgade and Catholic Education Arizona, and we work with you to raise funds for EITC and for CTC. So what’s that alphabet soup, right Ryan? So the EITC is individual tax contributions. And CTC is our corporate tax contributions. So we have been very, very blessed this year for the first time ever, and raised $1 million for disabled, displaced children. So in partnership, we’ll be able to work with your families that qualify for the Disabled and Displaced Program to again provide that culture of yes that you’ve created for even more students.
Ryan Costello:
It’s amazing because that culture of yes is something we’re calling. I have a painting of the Annunciation that’s become really famous by Henry Tanner in my office, just because I know where I work, and I want to be reminded constantly. But we could not do our work without the work that happens there. And the work that happens in parishes, and all of those places, to let families know that, yes, this is your choice, that you have that choice and you have that ability. So it’s really amazing to be tied into such great work that’s happening all around the Diocese for all of these kids.
Nancy Padberg:
Excellent. And the more we can get the word out that our schools are affordable and accessible, through working with, you know, great people in your finance department, is that it is absolutely accessible. And to remove that fear and let them know. So the more conversations we can have like this really raises the potential and the conversation.
So from podcasts or social media, to articles, to newsletters and blog posts, people spend six and a half hours a day on some kind of technical device-your phone, your laptop, your iPad. And that’s a reality today. So we have to go where the people are. And so we’re doing that, and I know you’re doing that. And it’s just so important to be able to share the incredible work that’s being done. Is there anything else you want to share today?
Ryan Costello:
I will say this, I saw a real point of similarity between ourselves and West-Mec in the sense that when we as a team went over to West-Mec campus, there was a whole new light shed that couldn’t be explained in a phone call or on a zoom call or even talking. Like my experience with their students, you had to get on campus to really feel the amazing work that’s being done. I think that’s so true about Bourgade, I would really encourage anyone who desires this education of the mind and of the heart for their child to get on our campus and meet our Director of Admissions, Ms. Miranda Maciel.
Nancy is an amazing, amazing representative of our school, but just also an amazing human being. She does all sorts of shadow days. She has an Eighth Grade Day coming up on November 5th, it’s a Friday. And those are really, I think, the best opportunities. Because once you get on campus and see our student body and meet the teachers that love their students so much, and maybe even catch a kid or two walking around in their scrubs, it changes the way that you think about Bourgade. So either a shadow day through Ms. Miranda Maciel, you can get her information on our website, https://www.bourgadecatholic.org/, or that Eighth Grade Day on November 5th, they’re just creating opportunities to engage with this beautiful, beautiful place.
Javier Bravo:
I’m just going to echo what Mr. Costello said: Just come and see. That’s the best thing you can do. You need to see it in action.
Nancy Padberg:
And tell me your website one more time?
Javier Bravo:
Our website is https://www.bourgadecatholic.org/.
Nancy Padberg:
And Miranda is who they should reach out to?
Javier Bravo:
Yes, Ms. Miranda Maciel-they can click on the admissions tab once they reach our website.
Nancy Padberg:
Amazing things happening at Bourgade Catholic High School. Thank you, gentlemen. It is just a privilege to be with you today because you truly are creating our future leaders and we get to assist with that. But you really doing the heavy lifting and it’s not so heavy as it is when you see the graduates go out into the world. It’s actually very inspirational. And I’ve been on your campus and I felt truly the community of love that you’ve built and pride and respect. And really that’s what we all could be graced with when we do spend time there.
So, to learn more about how you can create future leaders, please contact Catholic Education Arizona, visit our website at ceaz.org, or call us at (602) 218-6542.
We have some incredible corporations, and a shout out to companies like Cigna Earnhardt Auto Centers, Grand Canyon University is doing some incredible work, Meritage Homes. It doesn’t matter the size of the company. Truly, those corporate tax credits can be redirected to create future leaders just like we were talking about here with my friends here at Bourgade.
I want to thank Javier Bravo and Ryan Costello, for being a part of the podcast and for all that you do at Bourgade Catholic High School. Thank you to our listeners. Thank you for spending time with us. And you know what? It’s always a great day at CEA. See you next time.
Colleen McCoy-Cejka:
You have been listening to Creating Future Leaders with Catholic Education Arizona. For more information visit us at ceaz.org.
