Cristo Rey High School Sacramento

In 1996, the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus opened a high school on the southside of Chicago exclusively serving poor students living in the impoverished Pilsen neighborhood. An innovative Work Study component was incorporated within the school's curriculum providing the means for the students to earn wages to pay for a good portion of their tuition. This model proved highly successful and Cristo Rey Jesuit High Schools have been replicated throughout the United States; they are an impressive solution for educating our nation's most at-risk teenagers.

Eight years later in 2004, the California Province of Jesuits sponsored a feasibility study in Sacramento with representatives of the region's business, civic, and non-profit communities, joined and supported by Diocesan parish and neighborhood leaders. The results of the study concluded that this region was indeed in need of an affordable alternative and supportive of a Cristo Rey school, with a proven record of being able to deliver a quality college preparatory curriculum and innovative work-study experience.

The Cristo Rey Network approved the opening of the Sacramento school in August 2006 with its first freshman class and 25 of the community's finest corporate sponsors. The school rapidly outgrew it's original site, a closed-down Catholic elementary school, facilitating a search for a new location. Through a supportive community, sponsors and an active Board of Directors, Cristo Rey High School Sacramento completed a successful 18-month capital campaign, moving to a new campus in 2015. Now in its 17th year, Cristo Rey Sacramento continues to grow, with an enrollment of 325 students for the 2023-2024 school year.