Agency Details:

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is a Catholic, independent, coeducational, college preparatory school for a highly diverse student body from families of limited means in Baltimore City. It offers a strong academic and spiritual program integrated with a corporate work-study program.

Description:
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is a high school with a commitment, a commitment to young people to help them succeed in their lives with an affordable, quality education, and a commitment to the City of Baltimore that despite dire poverty in some neighborhoods, its youth will accomplish masterful things and lead lives of distinction.

The latest initiative of the Maryland Jesuits, Cristo Rey Jesuit is a new urban idea steeped in old values: opportunity, responsibility and forming young men and women for others. We offer a rigorous academic program based on the highest human values, including work. In partnership with local corporations, our students work five days each month to earn their education and to forge ties to the business world for life. In the classroom, our students learn about the world, and their role in it as leaders.

Small, safe, co-educational, college preparatory, Cristo Rey is for families and companies that want to tap the promise and profound energy of our young people. As a family, Cristo Rey Jesuit embraces a student body of Baltimore’s racial, religious and ethnic diversity.

Sponsored by the Maryland Province Jesuits, the school offers a strong academic and spiritual program integrated with a Corporate Internship Program in a safe, disciplined and nurturing environment. The goal of Cristo Rey Jesuit is to prepare students for higher education and for the workplace.

Cristo Rey Jesuit intends to maximize the potential of its graduates to assume leadership roles in the business, civic and cultural life of the community as men and women for others.

VALUES

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is dedicated to the fulfillment of its mission at all levels. At the same time, Cristo Rey Jesuit is committed to certain core values. These values are part of the 450 year Jesuit dedication to education, and are at the heart of the day-to-day work of our school.
Faith-Based Education: We provide the opportunity to experience Jesus Christ in an atmosphere that respects religious difference and promotes inter-religious dialogue. We strive for a genuine appreciation of cultures and religious heritages of our students. As a family, Cristo Rey Jesuit embraces a student body that reflects Baltimore’s racial, religious and ethnic diversity.

Care of the Individual Student: Cristo Rey Jesuit relies on a student-centered curriculum which develops personal relationships within the classroom and invokes our responsibilities to the wider community. Guided by the Jesuit educational principle of “cura personalis” (care for the individual person), Cristo Rey Jesuit assists each student through the developmental stages of social, academic, and spiritual growth.

Leadership in Service: Cristo Rey Jesuit shapes its students to be lifelong “men and women for others. We will teach them to manifest a genuine concern for those in need by thinking and acting as community leaders for the common good.

Self Discipline: We encourage the freedom and integrity of each student, and his or her growth toward accepting and exercising personal responsibility in the school community. This is manifested in intellectual rigor, dedication to study and respect for the dignity of others.

Realistic Knowledge: Our students are challenged to confront the obstacles to freedom and, through a growing self-awareness, to understand the effects of injustice in our neighborhoods, our city and our world. We provide our students with the ability to recognize their potential influence on life around them and to develop a reflective and knowledgeable sense of justice beyond simple ideas of good and evil.

The Balanced Person: We believe in the education of the whole person. Our students will be encouraged to develop their imagination and creativity, their scientific and technological knowledge and abilities, and to develop a personal spirituality.

Sponsorship: Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is shaped and energized by the vision of the Society of Jesus, and its 450-year legacy of educating young people.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Cristo Rey Jesuit High School?
• Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is a unique Baltimore high school providing affordable, Catholic, college preparatory education to students from families of modest means in Baltimore City.
• Cristo Rey Jesuit in Baltimore will be one of 19 schools in the Cristo Rey Network nationwide, which has a total current enrollment of 2,500 students.
• Cristo Rey Jesuit students will complete a challenging traditional curriculum focusing on core academic subjects. A complimentary program in the arts, athletics, service, and spiritual formation is offered.
• The attendance rate in Cristo Rey schools is 98% and 95% of Cristo Rey students attend college after graduation.
• The school is located at 420 South Chester Street in Fells Point, three blocks from Patterson Park.

Who are Cristo Rey Jesuit High School students?
• Cristo Rey Jesuit students live throughout Baltimore and are from a variety of faith backgrounds.
• Cristo Rey Jesuit students spend five days per month in a work study program where they earn the largest part of their tuition.
• Cristo Rey Jesuit students have significant economic need: over 80% qualify for the federal free or reduced lunch program.
• The average yearly income of Cristo Rey Jesuit families is approximately $30,000.

How many Cristo Rey Jesuit students will there be?
• The first class of 120 freshmen will begin classes in August 2007.
• Cristo Rey Jesuit will add one class each year, with the first class graduating in 2011.
• Total school enrollment will grow to 450 students at capacity.

Where will Cristo Rey Jesuit students work?
• Twenty-nine area companies in Baltimore City and County have committed to hiring students to fill real jobs through the Corporate Internship Program.
• Corporate sponsors include law firms, financial and insurance companies, colleges, hospitals, and banks.

How much will Cristo Rey Jesuit High School cost?
• Work-study positions support over 60% of the costs of the students’ education.
• Families are responsible to pay $2,500 annually, which is the balance of tuition costs not covered by income from the students’ work-study positions. Tuition assistance is available.

How are students admitted to Cristo Rey Jesuit High School?
• Cristo Rey Jesuit seeks students who demonstrate employability, motivation, and academic potential.
• Prospective students’ families should call the Admissions Office at (410) 727-3255, ext. 1004 to activate the Admissions process.

We are in need of volunteers to work with our students, especially tutoring. All volunteers must complete an application and a permission form for Cristo Rey Jesuit to conduct a background check for the safety of our students. Volunteers also must participate in (one-hour) STAND Training so that the school community can create and maintain a safe environment for our young students.

History:
The year 2007 is Cristo Rey Jesuit's High School's first year. The school has enrolled 120 promising ninth graders. This first year was preceded by a feasibility study conducted under the inspiration of Rev. Bill Waters, S.J., who was also the moving force behind St. Ignatius Academy, a middle school for boys from families of limited means.

Contact people:

David Haddad, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email) Anne Price, (phone), (email) Tom Malone, Principal, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (443) 573-9898

Address:

420 South Chester Street Baltimore, MD 21231 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.cristoreybalt.org

Directions:

From downtown Baltimore, proced east on Eastern Ave. the schoool is located near the corner of Eastern Ave and South Chester St. in Fells point. From points north, thake I 83 South and continue straight at the end of the. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: Bus line 10/Eastern Ave and S. Chester St., 1 minute walk

Last updated on November 9, 2009