Jesuit High School

Jesuit High School is a private, Catholic, college-preparatory school run by the USA West Province of the Society of Jesus in Beaverton outside Portland, Oregon, United States, in the Archdiocese of Portland. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1956 and uses a Jesuit, college-preparatory curriculum. It is coeducational and enrolls approximately 1,300 students of all faiths.

The school was the 43rd Jesuit high school to be established in the United States. Though it was not finally established until 1956, the process of founding a Jesuit high school in Portland began in 1907, when property was purchased by the parish of St. Ignatius and set aside for a future high school. A lay appeal to the Jesuit Provincial for a high school in 1929 came to nothing. In 1954 the Holy Cross Fathers of Portland announced the closing of Columbia Prep and a plan for the Jesuits to take over the premises was discussed, but again dropped. Finally in 1955 the Jesuit Provincial Superior was asked by the Archbishop to set up a school. Hillsdale Dairy Farm, a 55-acre plot to the west, some 15 minutes drive from downtown Portland, was purchased for $165,000. Jesuit and Holy Cross priests raised pledges of $117,000 by Wednesday of the first week of a fund-raising campaign in churches, and hundreds of thousands more by door-to-door canvassing. Jesuit High School opened for freshmen boys on September 10, 1956 and girls have been admitted since 1993.

More information

Comments Statistics

| | Public