Today's the day. The inaugural Arrupe Jesuit 40 Under 40 is officially public — 40 honorees, 40 full profiles, one class to celebrate. Read every story right now.
Today, the wait is over: nurses and business leaders, attorneys and engineers, educators, accountants, and nonprofit leaders — every one of them tracing their path back to the same halls on Utica St. This magazine is 40 of them, showing us what that journey actually looks like.
Nowhere is that light needed more than in our own hallways, where current students are asking themselves the same questions these honorees once asked. Hung Jimmy Pham, now a Program Strategy Analyst at Leidos, put it this way: "Like every Arrupe student, we all eventually find our own path, but we all started on Utica Street." He credits Mr. Stephen Graham with sparking a curiosity about engineering that has stayed with him ever since — the kind of moment a current student might be having in a classroom this week without even realizing it yet.
As President Michael J. O'Hagan writes in his letter opening this magazine: "Their brilliance, kindness, and successes give light to others. Their example is the city on the mountain that cannot be hidden."
For Carolina Luna, now Legal Orientation Program Coordinator at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, that light showed up as belonging. "As a first-generation student, Arrupe was a place where I felt deeply understood," she writes. "That sense of safety and belonging gave me the confidence to thrive, dream bigger, and understand the importance of collective care." For any first-generation student sitting in a classroom right now wondering if they belong, Carolina's profile is the answer.
Then there's the full-circle story. Ximena Gonzalez, a 2020 graduate and High Risk Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse at HCA Healthcare, credits her Arrupe Jesuit college counselor for helping her find her way into nursing — the same counselor, Micaela Escontrias, who also earned a spot in this year's 40 Under 40, and who now works with Arrupe's current students every day as Director of College Counseling and Alumni Support. Ximena's story isn't just about where an Arrupe education can lead. It's proof that the people guiding today's students through that journey are the same people who once guided honorees like her.
That's the through-line across all 40 profiles: every honoree in this magazine once sat exactly where our current students sit now — unsure of the road ahead, leaning on a teacher, a CWSP supervisor, or a counselor who believed in them first. Now their stories are the map.
Go read all 40 profiles, then help us celebrate:
- Share the link with your own network — LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and beyond.
- Tag or comment to congratulate an honoree you know. A note from a former teacher, classmate, or CWSP supervisor means more than you'd think.
Forty alumni. Forty different paths. And a school full of students who now have forty new reasons to believe in their own futures. Congratulations to our inaugural 40 Under 40 — welcome to the first class of many.
