Cristo Rey Model Schools on TV's "60 Minutes"
(Posted January 10, 2005)

A major report on the unique character and solid success of high schools that use the corporate internship model pioneered by Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago and De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon, was broadcast on the CBS News show "60 Minutes" on October 27, 2004. The news team visited the Chicago school, spoke to students and teachers, and reported on the proven results success of this school and others like it. "Ten years ago," CBS reported, "this Chicago community had a dropout rate that soared as high as 75 percent. For the Cristo Rey class of 2004, the dropout rate is one percent. And every one of the [graduating] students…has been accepted to college. And Cristo Rey is showing the way to other communities. A $22 million gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and venture capitalist B.J. Cassin is funding schools modeled after Cristo Rey in 10 other needy communities. Just this fall, schools opened in six cities, including New York, Boston, and Tucson." For the full transcript of the CBS 60 Minutes report, with photos, go to the CBS News web site.

The Tucson school is San Miguel High School, one of two corporate-internship model high schools currently sponsored by the District of San Francisco. De La Salle North Catholic in Portland, Oregon, is the other. To learn more, click on those schools' web sites at http://www.delasallenorth.org/ and http://www.sanmiguelhigh.com/.

De La Salle North Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon, has drawn the attention of educators for being the first high school in the nation to adopt the corporate internship model pioneered by Cristo Rey in Chicago. In a neighborhood that had been without a Catholic high school since 1970, De La Salle North Catholic opened its doors in the fall of 2001 to provide college-preparatory, Lasallian education where drop-out rates from public high schools were among the highest in the state. The school is also drawing increasing favorable attention from the Oregon business community. A recent article in The Business Journal of Portland notes that De La Salle North Catholic, with a student body that has grown from its original 70 to about 240 today, is set to graduate its first class in June 2005. The article reports on the school's corporate internship program, noting the steady increase in the school's base of corporate sponsors and its sponsor retention rate of 90 percent. Similarly, the October issue of Brainstorm NW: The Magazine for Northwest Decision Makers, reports in-depth on the excellence of academics at the school, the growth in extra offerings, and the important benefits that students gain from their participation in the corporate world and their local community. To read the articles in full, and to learn the latest about De La Salle North Catholic High School, go to the school's web site at http://www.delasallenorth.org/ and click on "In the News."

San Miguel High School in Tucson, Arizona began its journey in education this fall with over 60 Freshmen. The plan for the future is to phase in incoming classes until the meet the full four years experienced now in Portland. A new building is being constructed that will accommodate the present and future classes. To read more news about San Miguel High School, go to the school's web site at http://www.sanmiguelhigh.com/ and click on "Press Room."

Other districts of the De La Salle Christian Brothers are also active in supporting this growing educational ministry. For the latest on the nationwide movement to bring Catholic, college-preparatory education to neighborhoods that need it so badly, see the Cristo Rey Network web site at www.cristoreynetwork.org.