Arrupe Jesuit High School was founded by the Missouri Province Jesuits and business leaders in Denver as a school using the Cristo Rey model to serve economically disadvantaged students. The school was named after the former superior general of the Jesuit order, Father Pedro Arrupe. In early 2003, the school purchased the Holy Family Catholic School campus in northwest Denver to house the new program. The school opened in August 2003 with a class of ninth graders and added another grade each year until the 2006-2007 school year, which saw the school's first graduating class of 47 students. In 2017 it had a 10-year record of graduating all its students and having all of them accepted into college. Only 36% of Hispanics and 55% of African-Americans graduate from high school in Denver. To expand its enrollment, Arrupe Jesuit High completed an $11-million building program in 2015, which added seven classrooms with advanced technology, student fitness and activities rooms, a new cafeteria, and additional office space. A new chapel was built in the former building, along with three new classrooms and office and work space. Arrupe was chosen as a successful school by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation has also given $18.9 million in support of Cristo Rey schools across the country. The school is also supported by the Denver Urban Scholars program. Each year some graduates of Jesuit schools who have finished college volunteer to assist at Arrupe, through the Alum Service Corps program.
Curriculum
Arrupe requires students to earn about two-thirds of the annual cost of their education through a corporate work-study program where students job-share entry-level positions, working five days a month from mid-August to early June. Students have 6 academic classes per day, and if they fail to do their homework they have mandatory study hall.
Extracurricular activities
Athletic teams at Arrupe compete at the 3A level in Colorado High School Activities Association-sanctioned competition. Teams are fielded in men's soccer, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, women's soccer, baseball, and cross-country. Other activities include "mock trial", in which an Arrupe student won the Best Lawyer award in the regional tournament.
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. The book, authored by G.R. Kearney, a writer and former volunteer teacher at the original Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, documents the development of the Cristo Rey model and its progress throughout the United States.
