’16
FINDING HIS WAY ANTHONY OBAS ’16
BY NICK BARONE ’16
LIKE MANY, HE HAS TAKEN TIME TO REFLECT—NOT ONLY AS A RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE, BUT ALSO AS A PERSON WHO WANTS TO BETTER HIMSELF. If the COVID-19 pandemic has shown
bring light to students’ lives. Obas is
Anthony Obas ’16 anything, it’s that
part of Cristo Rey’s full-time residential
for instance, he never knew he
people really need support right now.
volunteer program, a two-year
liked animation, writing, and
commitment that brings young people
gaming. Finding new lanes and
Department at Cristo Rey New York
together to live in community and
discovering hobbies has allowed
High School—a Catholic, co-ed college
serve Cristo Rey in a variety of roles.
him to realize what brings him joy.
Working in the College Guidance
prep school in East Harlem that
By providing some fun and stability
educates students from underserved
to students moving through a very
communities—has made it particularly
unstable world, he hopes to show them
apparent to him that high school
they can emerge from the pandemic
students have never needed more
healthy and happy—the way he
support. The students with whom
recalls his experience and that of his
he works are experiencing a very
Xavier brothers during high school.
different high school education than the one he enjoyed on 16th Street. “Being under lockdown,
“The only thing I can offer them is joy,” he said. “I can’t offer them my own madness because they already
attending school from home,
have their own that they have to
and having the restrictions they
deal with! If I can give them my joy,
have now are things these kids
then I’m doing something right.”
shouldn’t be going through—no one should be,” Obas reflected.
This past year has surely been an
For most of his first 22 years,
Obas wrote Volume 1: Shifting Your Music Into A Career—A Guide for Independent Artists to be Full Time Artists in 2019. His intention with the book was to help emerging artists and musicians take the art they make, create an income, and perhaps even make art a full-time job. “People are struggling right now, and I think this is a tool they can use to discover what they can do with
Above: Anthony Obas at Xavier in February; in his 2016 graduation photo.
their passions, just like me,” he said. For now, Obas continues his work
interesting one for Obas. Like many, he
at Cristo Rey, fighting the good fight
After graduating from Syracuse
has taken time to reflect—not only as
and ensuring students come out of
University last spring, he began his role
a recent college graduate, but also as
this pandemic ready to go forth and
as a college counselor determined to
a person who wants to better himself.
set the world on fire—just like him. XAVIER MAGAZINE
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