AUSTIN — Aldontae Guess was forced to live with different relatives as his family struggled financially — but he continued to crack the books.
The hard work paid off. The once homeless teen is now vying for valedictorian at Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory.
Guess is like many students at the seven-year-old high school in Austin: He is fighting poverty with education.
“Education is the key to everything,” said Guess, 18.
The Austin resident and his classmates are the fourth consecutive group of seniors to all be accepted into college.
“We have established a culture of high expectations and high results,” said Darryl Hobson, an associate principal at the mostly African-American school.
Since Christ the King had its first graduates three years ago, its alumni have enrolled in colleges including prestigious Middlebury College in Vermont and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
Guess, president of the school’s National Honor Society, is attempting to get at a full scholarship to Loyola University.
Like all other Christ the King students, he also works once a week to contribute to his tuition.
The school is following a model set forth by Cristo Rey High School in Pilsen, which requires students to work at Chicago-area businesses to help offset tuition costs.
The cost to educate a student at the school is about $15,000. Students’ families are required to help pay tuition, even though some families pay as little as $46 a month based on their income.
The school was established in 2008 to offer a private education to students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford one in the struggling neighborhood. The average income for a student’s family in the class of 2018 is $24,700, school officials said.
The school also is in one of the city’s toughest neighborhoods.
But the three-story building in the 5000 block of West Jackson provides a safe environment for students, school officials said. Students initially attended classes at St. Martin De Porres grammar school on West Washington until the $30 million facility opened in 2010.
As the first Catholic high school to open on the West Side in more than eight decades, the school has become a source of pride for some Austin residents.
“Christ the King is great for the community and great for kids,” said Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th Ward. “We are happy to have the school in the community.”
Aside from a strong Christian-backed education, students also are reminded daily of black history.
Rooms in the school are named for famous African-Americans. For example, the music room is named for jazz great Ramsey Lewis, while another room is named for poet Gwendolyn Brooks.
About 98 percent of the student body is black. Girls make up 60 percent of the school’s 302 students and dominate as class leaders. The school’s past valedictorians were girls.
But this year, Guess is poised for the honor, while close behind him is James Dale, 18, who has received a full scholarship to College of Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
“I sleep just four or five hours a night to keep up,” said Guess, who also works in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s correspondence unit.
Guess, who now lives in a home with his mother, acknowledged it was rough living in several places because his family struggled financially during his sophomore and junior years of school.
But he said classmates helped keep his spirits up when he was down and motivated him to work hard.
“He is a very hard-working student,” said Jimmy Bajner, chairman of the school’s math department. “He always wants to be the best.”
Guess, a peer minister who wants to major in both theology and psychology, also is passionate about helping others.
“Aldontae has a bleeding heart,” Daniel Zundel, director of the school’s Christian Service, told a school publication. “He will help anyone, anywhere, anytime.”
Guess also wants to help Austin in some way when he finishes college.
“The greatest thing about humanity is not our looks or social status,” Guess said. “It is our gifts and how we use them to better mankind.”
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