Our Neighborhood: Median Household Income $28,000

 

Brooklyn Jesuit Prep

 

The new kids on the block:

  • Brooklyn Jesuit Prep, one of the youngest Nativity-model schools in the country, graduated its first class in June 2006. 
  • BJP began with an after-school program in the spring of 2003 and the Summer Leadership Program in Summer 2003 to prepare incoming students for the middle school.  In September 2003, our first fifth and sixth graders started classes full-time. 
  • The school became a full middle school in September 2005 with grades five through eight and graduated its first class of students in June 2006!
  • Both boys and girls attend BJP, but the boys and girls attend separate, single-gender classes.  This method allows students to focus on their academics while providing them opportunities for interaction during the after-school program.

 

 

Filling a void in Crown Heights:

  • For 64 years, the Jesuits ran Brooklyn Prep, a high school in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood. The school closed in 1972.  BJP, also rooted in the ideals of Jesuit education, was named in honor of the school that gave so much to its students and community.  From the beginning, Brooklyn Prep alumni adopted the program and their support has ensured our success.
  • When Saint Teresa of Avila School closed in May 2002, the Crown Heights neighborhood was left with few options for a Catholic education.  Many of the families in this area could not afford higher tuitions at other Catholic or private schools.  BJP opened in the former Saint Teresa of Avila school building, offering a rare opportunity to the community.

 

 

Reflecting the neighborhood we serve:

  • From America’s first years as a country, Brooklyn has been a home to immigrants.  At first, the area was home to families from Italy, Russia, Ireland and Poland.  Today, Crown Heights is filled with new immigrants from Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico, and other Latin American and Caribbean countries.
  • Brooklyn Jesuit Prep is a distinct reflection of the current diversity of the Crown Heights neighborhood; in our initial fifth and sixth-grade classes, our 36 students represented 18 countries!