Our mandate for educating today’s students requires readiness for future participation in the professional community. Thus, our student’s education is extended beyond classroom teaching to a balanced work-study program. Our work-study program provides a unique opportunity for our students to be exposed to the work environment that they will enter after college. Our students will clearly have a competitive advantage as they begin to make the transition from the academic environment to the professional workplace.

We have partnered with several civic-minded local businesses and organizations that have joined our Community of Champions to provide jobs for every student at Memphis Catholic. The salaries provided by these Champions pay for over 70% of one student’s tuition and provide a learning opportunity unparalleled in the classroom.

The students investigate potential jobs and make a list of their preferences, first choice given to seniors, then juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, although jobs will be assigned according to capability, not necessarily classification.

One student from each grade level forms a four-person team that shares a single job. Each student in the group will work five full days per month: one day each week, rotating Fridays between the four of them. The students work during the standard business hours set forth by each company, and are transported to and from work by the school’s transportation system. Academic schedules are structured around this work schedule, so the students will miss no class whatsoever.

The students work in a variety of fields processing paperwork, answering phones, filing, copying—all while learning the fundamentals of professionalism and hard work. During this experience students are exposed to working environments that they may not have know even existed. Here, they build confidence and are exposed to the professional world of their future.