Local school produces high achievers ---
Rosie Rios and her eight sisters and brothers were raised by their mom in Hayward. Rosie was born in 1965, the same year that the doors first opened at Moreau Catholic High School, which would play an important role in her future.
She attended Moreau and graduated with honors, which led to her attending Harvard University where she earned a bachelor's degree. Rios then worked in economic development jobs in Fremont, Union City, San Leandro and Oakland before becoming managing director of investments for MacFarlane Partners, a real estate investment management firm based in San Francisco.
Today, Rios (Rosa Gumataotao Rios), 45, is the treasurer of the United States. As U.S. treasurer, she oversees the U.S. Mint, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and Fort Knox with about 4,000 employees and a budget of more than $4.5 billion. Her responsibilities as part of the Obama administration did not prevent her from returning to the East Bay recently to support her former school. Rios says her time at Moreau laid the foundation for her success.
"My hopes and my dreams have come true because of you," she told a crowd of Moreau students, teachers, alumni and donors at a recent fundraising event for the school.
“The skills she gained here – to think critically, to be able to analyze information and write articulately – these are the skills that allowed her to thrive at Harvard University," said Moreau Principal Lauren Lek.
Beyond the academic skills, Lek says Moreau school has a special commitment to educating the whole child, “to help form people who care and look for ways to be active in the community.”
“Their minds will not be cultivated at the expense of their heart,” says Lek. “The focus is not just producing brilliant scholars but people with commitment to help others. And Rosie is a great example of that commitment to helping others.”
It was natural for Rios to help raise money for Moreau, which is increasingly relying on fundraising events to fund the scholarships that pay part of the students’ tuition costs to attend the private school. Rios benefitted from tuition assistance when she attended the school, which this year gave $1.3 million in scholarships so that more parents could afford to have their child at Moreau.
“One of our greatest challenges is affordability - a lot of families can no longer afford our school, though more and more parents are desperate to have their kids at Moreau,” says Lek. “Demand for tuition assistance has just spiked in recent years.”
Also speaking at the fundraising event was another former student, Shara Jubilado, who has a successful career, having worked for two notable finance companies: Ernst & Young and Sequoia Capital.
"I was gifted a wonderful opportunity to excel, and I seized that opportunity," she said.
Jubilado also received tuition assistance to attend Moreau, which like other private schools, suffers from misperceptions about who attends.
“We are not a school for the wealthy - we are a school for those who want to be here,” says Lek, who adds that the assistance makes attending a school like Moreau attainable. “It helps make it real, not some far out dream.”
Ninety-nine percent of Moreau graduates go to college, including Rios and her eight brothers and sisters. Rios acknowledges her mother’s dedication to having her kids get the best education possible.
“Our mother emphasized that education was the main path to success in life,” says Rosie. “She believed that a Catholic education was important in providing a solid foundation of good values and high expectations. It was the best investment she could have made.”