Jesuit High School

Jesuit High School is a non-profit, Catholic, college-preparatory school for boys in grades 8-12 that serves students of all religious faiths. It is located in Mid-City New Orleans on Carrollton Avenue between Palmyra and Banks Streets.

Jesuit’s curriculum is structured to develop disciplined habits, to stimulate critical thinking, and to develop the skills necessary for the expression of that thinking. The school strives to instill five characteristics in its students. The goal is to educate our young men to be open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, and committed to doing justice.

The Jesuit approach to education is based on nearly five hundred years of excellence, originated by St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus (“the Jesuits”) in 1540. It begins with a deep respect for students and their potential, a principle the Jesuits call cura personalis. The Jesuit faculty challenges students to strive for personal excellence in all aspects of life — intellectual, emotional, moral, and physical. That principle, called magis, accounts for the rigor of intellectual exchange and the varied challenges Blue Jays experience at Jesuit, and in the world beyond.

The present Jesuit High School of New Orleans was established in 1847 as one department of the College of the Immaculate Conception by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. The College was located on Baronne and Commons Streets. In 1911 the collegiate departments were transferred to the site of the present Loyola University of New Orleans. The high school department remained in the buildings on Baronne Street for another 15 years. Due to increasing enrollment, in 1926 the school moved to its present location on Carrollton Avenue between Banks and Palmyra Streets.

The mission of Jesuit High School as a Catholic, college preparatory school is to develop in its students the competence, conscience, and compassion that will enable them to be men of faith and men for others. We take our mission quite seriously at Jesuit. This statement drives all that we do — day in and day out.

Every trade has its facts and figures, and every worker needs a command of those facts and figures. Students leave Jesuit with much more than facts and figures. They leave knowing that not only is information powerful, but how they use that information is just as powerful. Each day young people face decisions about how to use what they know and to decide what to do the right thing. Our goal is to produce young men with a sense of right and wrong, young men who know facts, but also know that facts are only manifestations of God’s creation and, as such, are to be valued deeply and used only for the greater glory of God.

We are not alone. And we certainly are not a gated community. Each student at Jesuit is one of 1,385 young men who come from different backgrounds — socially, economically, and culturally. We are a microcosm of our larger community. And we have an opportunity to explore our common bond of humanity. What do I owe my neighbor simply because we are both human beings, both creatures of God? How we interact, how we play, how we compete, how we study, how we worship all reflect one profound truth: how we love each other. And so daily at Jesuit, we practice the basic tenet of our faith: that we love one another as our God loves us.

Jesuit is committed to the belief that we are created to know, love, and serve God; that each person, though sinful, is personally known and loved by God; and that this love invites a response to God’s love, a free gift of oneself.

The fundamental purpose of our school is to form “men for others” — men of faith who are motivated by genuine Gospel charity; new men transformed by the message of Christ, who are open to their own time and to the future; leaders who have acquired a way of life that is a proclamation of the love of Christ, of faith, and of justice.

College can be challenging. One reason young men choose to spend the most important years of their lives at Jesuit is to prepare themselves for this next level. From what is taught to how it is taught, everything at Jesuit is geared to preparing each person for a successful college experience and for a successful life in the 21st century. Jesuit is proud to be part of a 460-year Catholic and Ignatian tradition of educating young men and women to be in service for and with others.

Jesuit’s curriculum and courses are structured to develop disciplined habits, to stimulate critical thinking, and to develop the skills necessary for the expression of that thinking. The school strives to instill five characteristics in its students. The goal is to educate our young men to be open to growth, intellectually competent, religious, loving, and committed to doing justice. As described in the “Profile of the Jesuit Graduate at Graduation,” these principles guide our curriculum development and teaching.