September 30, 2020

Dan Dougherty, President, Cristo Rey New York High School

Each year, Cristo Rey New York High School students work with their English teachers to produce a literary magazine. The final product, Lion’s Roar, is always filled with beautiful stories, poems, and song lyrics written by students from all grades on a wide variety of topics. Students can submit pieces they wrote for a class, or anything they have written independently. They work with our English department to edit and finalize their work, and it is eventually published in a booklet to be distributed throughout our school community.

This year, many of our students were moved to write about their experiences as young people of color living in a time unlike anything they have ever known. Their writing reflects their resilience as they fight through the coronavirus pandemic and deal with all the accompanying fear and grief. In Jazlynn’s “Seeing What’s in Front of You” (pg. 11), she admires the strength of her mother, a nurse working tirelessly for COVID patients. These stories also show their courage and bravery as they use their voices to work towards social justice and racial equity in their communities. Nashia’s poem “Sorry Not Sorry” (pg. 4) is a moving piece recounting her thoughts on what it means to be a young Black woman in America today.

We are so proud of this publication every year, but this year’s is especially poignant and impressive, and we are so excited to share it with you. You can find CRNYHS’ Lion’s Roar 2020 online here.