Catholic high school education has returned to Pueblo after a 41-year absence.
St. Therese Catholic School started an online high school program in the fall, building on the school’s 11-year-old pre-school-eighth-grade program.
“We’ve had a number of people over the years that have been looking for an alternative for their kids at the high school level,” said John Brainard, St. Therese principal. “They want their child to continue to be in a faith-filled environment.”
This fall, Brainard decided to pilot an online high school program at the St. Therese building.
The program is the first Catholic high school in the city since the Diocese of Pueblo closed all Catholic schools in 1971.
St. John Neumann, a private pre-school-eighth-grade Catholic school, was opened in 1977 and St. Therese, also a pre-school-eighth-grade school, opened in 2000.
Based on parent request, Brainard said he decided to expand the St. Therese program to high school by implementing an on-site, online curriculum for students in grades 9-12.
Currently, there are four students enrolled in the high school program, three freshmen and a junior.
The students take classes at St. Therese through the accredited online Catholic Schools K-12 Virtual program.
“This is really an online version of our school here,” Brainard said of the Internet program.

