Portland, OR. Over 150 guests gathered to cut the ribbon and officially open the new De La Salle North Catholic High School. The school is located at Northeast Portland. The new facility includes state-of-the-art science labs, a visual arts center, and a new gym. It will serve up to 350 students—significantly more than the 280 who attended at the previous location on North Fenwick Avenue.
Amanda Weingarten ’05, Lech Kaiel ’05, Jonna Frater ’06, and Nik Tucker ’14.
Former Principal Tim Joy along with Lisa Bendt and Charles Leverton from the Multnomah Athletic Club.
Oscar Leong, Brother Chris Patiño and Tim Joy pose next to the statue of St. John Baptist de la Salle.
The Kelley Family in the Michael Kelley Gymnasium.
Board members Cyndy Maletis and Mary Boyle, and guest Gay Jacobsen.
Mary Boyle, the honorary co-chair of the Capital Campaign Committee, said “When we found out that we needed to have a new campus, our own campus, we started looking around and working with the architects and trying to see what kind of campaign we could do, and what we could raise, $30 million was out in the air and we said no way can we raise that amount of money, maybe $15 million? Little did we know, with an incredible campaign committee and all our donors and supporters that we were able to complete a full gym and renovate this whole school and raise $26 million during a pandemic.”
The school will host its Fall Benefit Auction on October 29th. Click here for more information.
From De La Salle North Catholic High School:
De La Salle North Catholic High School opened in 2001 to provide a faith-based, college preparatory high school education to underserved students from the Portland area. These families needed and wanted a viable and affordable choice of schools to send their student. Other private high schools in and around Portland were not an option for most of them because of the cost and the distance their student would have to travel to go to school each day. They spoke out and said, “put your school right here in our neighborhood.”
De La Salle was the first school to replicate the innovative Corporate Work Study Program pioneered by Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago. There are now more than 37 schools throughout American cities that model their school on this Cristo Rey model.
De La Salle North Catholic is sponsored by The De La Salle Christian Brothers and is a part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland/Western Oregon. A nationwide, independent rating agency has identified De La Salle North Catholic High School as the most diverse private high school in all of Oregon.
Students at De La Salle North Catholic High School attend class four days per week and work for a local company one day each week as part of the Corporate Work-Study Program (CWSP). The CWSP provides work experience, business contacts, and helps offset the cost to educate them. This school exists to provide this unique educational opportunity to families who would not be able to afford a private, Catholic education. Our goal is to develop tomorrow’s community leaders by making high-quality education accessible to motivated young people in a learning environment that values cultural, spiritual, and ethnic diversity. We don’t turn away any capable, motivated, or interested students because they cannot afford our modest tuition.
