School History
Cristo Rey Boston High School opened in Dorchester’s Savin Hill neighborhood in July of 2010. The Cristo Rey program began in 2004 at the former North Cambridge Catholic High School, which had an 89-year history of providing quality education to working class and immigrant families. The school educated some of the region’s most prominent leaders, including former U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill.
In the early part of the 21st century, the leaders of North Cambridge Catholic High School discovered the Cristo Rey Network, a rapidly growing association of high schools in which every student worked at entry-level jobs to earn tuition and gain real world corporate experience. The surprisingly simple program motivated students with limited academic preparation to work hard in school and pursue college degrees. The school's leadership conducted an extensive feasibility study to determine if converting to the Cristo Rey model was the correct fit for North Cambridge Catholic.
The results of that feasibility study are available here.
The new movement’s high standards and commitment to serve only families with limited financial resources matched perfectly with North Cambridge Catholic High School’s heritage. The school joined the Cristo Rey Network in September of 2004. In order to serve more youth and be closer to the majority of its students, the school relocated to a larger facility in Dorchester on Savin Hill Avenue, and is now known as Cristo Rey Boston High School.
