Arrupe Jesuit High School

Background Statement

In the late 1990's, a group of Catholic lay leaders and Jesuit educators came together over a shared concern about the state of education in Denver, particularly for poor and minority students. Graduation rates for our city's Latino, African American, and American Indian students lagged far behind those of Caucasian students, and only about one-fifth of our state's low-income students were going on to college. It was clear that without reversing this pattern of underachievement, important segments of our city would be excluded from active participation in the community and its economy.

This group saw a model of hope in Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, an innovative Catholic school founded in 1996 in one of Chicago's most economically distressed communities. Cristo Rey attracted national attention for its college preparatory curriculum and unique business model, in which students worked part-time in entry-level corporate jobs to help pay for their own education. The experiment proved to be a resounding success: the school boasts a graduation rate of over 95%, and 82% of graduates are currently attending or have completed college. Inspired by this success, Arrupe Jesuit High School was founded in 2003 and joins 23 other schools across the country that are currently based on the Cristo Rey model.