History-making college preparatory high school

Jet, June 9, 2003

HISTORY-MAKING COLLEGE PREPARATORY HIGH SCHOOL: Leon Henderson (r), president of Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory (CRCP) High School, and Carmele Hall (2nd, 1), principal of CRCP, receive greetings from Archbishop Justin Rigali of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Ald. Mike McMillan of the 19th Ward following the ribbon-cutting/dedication ceremony for the recently completed campus of CRCP in St. Louis. The new $32 million catholic school is the first private high school to be built in an urban setting in the U.S. in about 50 years. The school, in 1984, received the U.S. Department of Education's "Exemplary School" award, a prestigious honor that has been presented to only a few private schools. Offering a college preparatory curriculum, CRCP was founded in 1979 as an archdiocesan, coeducational high school serving the African-American community. Students have a 100 percent college acceptance rate with nearly half of those receiving academic merit college scholarships. The CRCP basketball team is 31-0; they were this year's Missouri Class 3A State Champions. In addition to JET Magazine Associate Editor Margena A. Christian, other CRCP graduates include Missouri State Representative Amber Boykins, NBA stars Jahidi White of the Washington Wizards and Loren Woods of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Ali "Big Lee" Jones of the rap group St. Lunatics.

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