Mission & History

The Herstory of ICA Cristo Rey Academy

ICA Cristo Rey Academy’s mission of empowering young women to achieve their dreams reflects the unwavering spirit of its founders—three young Dominican Sisters from Brooklyn who, in 1876, traveled more than 3,000 miles across the country in response to a plea for help from San Francisco’s first archbishop.

Archbishop Joseph Alemany recognized that the thousands of immigrant children flooding the burgeoning city of San Francisco were in desperate need of a religious education. Among the sisters who answered his call was 24-year-old Sister Maria Pia Backes, who, seven years after her arrival, established what would become Immaculate Conception Academy at 24th and Guerrero Streets in the Mission District.

The Academy grew quickly as immigrant families embraced its combination of academic rigor and Dominican Catholic values. Several nearby buildings were purchased for expansion, and by 1904, former ICA students organized to promote the welfare of the school and maintain strong bonds between students and faculty—a mentoring tradition that continues to this day.

ICA remained open following the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and, over the ensuing decades, provided thousands of young girls from financially challenged families with an educational opportunity they might otherwise never have received.

In 2008, the ICA Board of Directors applied for membership in the Cristo Rey Network, a national network of Catholic high schools that integrates four years of rigorous college preparatory academics with four years of professional work experience through a Corporate Work Study Program. Today, ICA Cristo Rey Academy provides young women with an unparalleled education and work experience. In 2021, 100% of ICA Cristo Rey graduates continued their education in college.

Together with the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, ICA Cristo Rey proudly honors the legacy of Mother Pia Backes and the early founders by providing young women with a spiritual and educational foundation to follow their dreams—wherever they may lead.