- Cristo Rey Jesuit High School (Baltimore, Maryland)
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Cristo Rey Jesuit High School 
Address 420 South Chester Street
Baltimore, Maryland, (Baltimore City), 21231-2729
United StatesCoordinates 39°17′12″N 76°35′13.5″W / 39.28667°N 76.587083°WCoordinates: 39°17′12″N 76°35′13.5″W / 39.28667°N 76.587083°W Information Type Private, Coeducational Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic Established 2007 President Rev. John W. Swope, SJ Principal Tom Malone Assistant Principal Dawn Strickland Grades 9–12 Color(s) Black and Gold Mascot Hornet Accreditation(s) Maryland State Board of Education[1] Affiliation Cristo Rey Network Corporate Internship Program Director Janet Shock Director of Development Jessica Wescott Director of Admissions Patricia Hill Director of Communications Mary Beth Lennon Dean of Students Derrick Lifsey Athletic Director Tony Cole Website http://www.cristoreybalt.org Cristo Rey Jesuit High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Baltimore, Maryland. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Contents
Background
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School (CRJ) opened in August 2007 and graduated its first class in June 2011. It is part of the Cristo Rey Network of high schools, the original being Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago.
Mission
“Cristo Rey Jesuit exists to transform lives.”
Our academic and corporate learning program leads our students to bright and prosperous futures. We are a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school, empowering students to succeed in college, work, and life. In partnership with the Maryland Province Jesuits, the Cristo Rey Network and the philanthropic community, our school embraces families of racial, religious and ethnic diversity from Baltimore’s disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Our Corporate Internship Program, in partnership with the Baltimore business community, complements our rigorous curriculum of mind, body and spiritual development. We nurture our students to be men and women in service to others through academic achievement, business experience, faith formation and civic leadership.
History
The collaboration of the Maryland Province Jesuits, who sponsor the school, and the Cristo Rey Network (CRN) formed the organizational backbone for the founding of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. The Maryland Jesuits bring proven leadership to the school, having advanced educational opportunities for the young people of Baltimore since 1852. Loyola Blakefield, Loyola University Maryland and St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, a tuition-free middle school for young men from low-income homes, are among the schools the Maryland Jesuits have established in the city. A year-long feasibility study completed in July 2005 identified the need for more opportunities for low-income Baltimore high school students, and the Maryland Jesuits decided to launch CRJ. The school offers a strong academic and spiritual foundation integrated with a corporate internship program in a safe, disciplined and nurturing environment.
The educational model for CRJ is based on a school the Jesuits founded in 1996 in the inner-city Pilsen/Little Village neighborhood in Chicago. Families wanted a better life for their children, and the Jesuits saw that education was the way out of poverty. Low-income children have few options for quality, affordable college preparatory education, and the problem of how to pay for this college prep education at first seemed insurmountable. The solution came through an innovative corporate internship program that gave students the opportunity to earn money toward the cost of their education.
That first school was so successful that groups in other cities inquired about starting such a school, and the CRN was formed to support the new schools. Headquartered in Chicago, CRN provides invaluable ongoing guidance as each school develops its academic, work-study and support programs. Affiliation with CRN allows CRJ to shorten the learning curve, adopt best practices from network schools and benchmark progress according to 10 mission effectiveness standards. Currently, 24 schools across the country are in the CRN. Several more are in the feasibility study phase.
CRJ opened in the fall of 2007. CRJ’s student body represents Baltimore’s racial, religious and ethnic diversity, with enrollment open to motivated students of all faiths. The school's first commencement took place on June 18, 2011 at the Roman catholic Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. Seventy-eight young men and women are members of the first graduating class. All were accepted to college. Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, delivered the commencement address. Mariah Gangersad'11 was class valedictorian; Jonathan George'11 was salutatorian.
Book about the Cristo Rey Model
In January 2008, Loyola Press released a book titled More than A Dream: How One School's Vision is Changing the World (More than a Dream official site). The book, authored by G.R. Kearney, a writer and former volunteer teacher at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, documents the unlikely development of the Cristo Rey model and its remarkable success throughout the United States.
References
External links
Categories:- High schools in Maryland
- Private schools in Baltimore, Maryland
- Roman Catholic secondary schools in Maryland
- Educational institutions established in 2007
- Jesuit high schools in the United States
- Cristo Rey Network
- Maryland school stubs
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