DePaul Cristo Rey High School is ready to step into the limelight as it celebrates its 10th anniversary
DePaul Cristo Rey High School, a private, Catholic, college-preparatory high school in Clifton, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall. But while the school has seen significant growth and changes over the last decade, school officials say many people are still unfamiliar with it.
“I tell everyone that DePaul Cristo Rey is the best-kept secret in the city of Cincinnati,” says Siobhan Taylor, DPCR president.
But with the school’s unique programs and community focus, Taylor and the school are ready to be a secret no more.
The Start
First opened in 2011, DPCR is truly unique in the Tristate—it’s the only school in the region that has its students participate in a Corporate Work-Study Program.
“We call it our secret sauce,” says Sparkle Worley, vice president of advancement. “Every student within a Cristo Rey school is required to have a job. And it’s not a job that would be working at McDonald’s or working at Macy’s on the floor. It’s more involvement with people who are working in offices and it gives exposure to all these different jobs that we have.”
Many DPCR students and their families normally wouldn’t be able to access a private education on their own, but the work-study program makes it possible. Participating businesses compensate students for their work by helping to pay for their education.
“That money comes directly to the school, which helps offset their tuition. So the students are working to help their families pay for this private college-prep education,” says Worley.
When the school first started, it operated out of an old grade school and only had a freshman class of 85 students. Today, DPCR has expanded into a brand-new building that opened last year and has had seven graduating classes, with 100% of students accepted to college. Many of these students are the first in their family to attend college, making this accomplishment particularly significant.
Worley adds that while the school has gotten bigger—today it hosts 300-plus students—some things haven’t changed.
“I would say every student here, even back in the early days, and even now when we’re larger, every student has someone that they can come to to help advise them and be their support in this school,” she says.
The Impact
Zamaria Beasley, who graduated from DPCR in 2017, can attest to the positive impact the school has on students.
Beasley and her family first became interested in the school because of the Corporate Work-Study Program. While at DPCR, she would work with the Freestore Foodbank, the University of Cincinnati’s One-Stop Student Service Center and the Ohio Attorney General’s office. She says these work experiences taught her how to dress professionally, develop her communication skills and how to ask questions. She also found supportive adults who were ready to offer whatever advice she needed.
“One of the reasons I stayed at the Ohio Attorney General’s office for two years was because I found a lot of mentors there who talked to me about college,” says Beasley. “Being the youngest person in a corporate setting, it can be intimidating, but everybody was super supportive in all my jobs and they definitely instilled confidence in me.”
The school also made some waves with Beasley.
“I would say that the faculty and staff definitely made the biggest impact. It definitely taught me the importance of surrounding yourself with good people and supportive people. They provided us with a lot of resources and skills and knowledge,” she says.
The school helped Beasley build up her confidence, too.
“Specifically, I remember my freshman year, I was afraid to apply for honors classes for my sophomore year, but one of the teachers there, he encouraged me to do so. It actually was a really great decision and I felt like that made an impact on me, even through college, just taking on different challenges every year in college and not being afraid to try new things.”
Beasley says that the skills she learned and the confidence she gained helped lead her to her next steps. After graduating, Beasley attended Xavier University, earning a degree in accounting while minoring in finance, and will be starting a full-time position in September with KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting networks.
The Future
Taylor joined the school as president in September 2020, ready to help students reach their dream of attending college.
“Everything about the school emphasizes what I believe is my calling in life, which is to serve students and families in a way that helps them become the best that they can be,” she says.
A Cincinnati native, she was impressed by how much the school was truly a community endeavor. “From our corporate partners to our local funders and donors, to the families and students that we serve, along with other members and organizations in the community, the thing that keeps DePaul Cristo Rey floating is the fact that it’s a lift by the community,” she says.
As DPCR looks to the future, Taylor plans to continue to rely on those important connections, lifting the school but also the Cincinnati community as well.
“Ultimately what we want to do here at DePaul Cristo Rey is to create a talent pipeline of educated professional and engaged citizens. We want those students to be able to come back to the city of Cincinnati, to invest and to work for a lot of the partners that they work for in their Corporate Work-Study experience—to help grow the economy, to help grow the workforce and to obviously continue to support and help their families be even better they currently are,” she says.
