Video Transcript:

JOANNE FARYON (Host): Now, a look at a high school that, for years, was a disappointment. Lincoln High School was known for its worn down buildings and below average academics. A few years ago, the school was torn down and rebuilt. It has since become a source of pride and hope in the community. Sharon Heilbrunn takes a look at how the rebirth has affected students.  

MEL COLLINS (Principal, Lincoln High School): Okay Rose is here. Okay. You’re going to be in the middle, Rose is going to be at the gate and Tasha’s going to be down below, and we’re do that for the first week. I don’t know where she wants that but, we’ll put it there and they can deal with it later. Morning ladies, good morning, good morning. Good morning guys.

COLLINS: Doin’ okay? Must be basketball players. Yea, yea, we’re going to get you on camera. We’re going to get your feet. 

COLLINS: Okay, what grade are you in? 

STUDENT: Ninth. 

COLLINS: Right over there, and you’re going to go to an Alpha Station.

COLLINS: Ladies, let’s go. They’re gonna stand out here and talk all day.

COLLINS: Okay, you know where to go? Ok. 

COLLINS: She’ll tell you where. It’s an Alpha Station that you go to first.

SHARON HEILBRUNN (KPBS, Reporter): This is a story about a school. A school that was torn down, rebuilt, and reborn inside of a community that's both rough and raw.

HEILBRUNN: Mel Collins is principal of Lincoln High School. The school was demolished in 2003, rebuilt and reopened four years later, giving students in southeastern San Diego access to quality education and state-of-the-art technology.

COLLINS: It's kind of interesting because when the alumni come back, people who went to the old Lincoln, they're totally blown away. If only I had, or we had this, at this time.

HEILBRUNN: It cost more than 120 million dollars to rebuild Lincoln High School. The project was funded by Proposition MM, which was approved in 1998 by city taxpayers.
 
HEILBRUNN: Architect Joseph Martinez designed the school with heavy input from the community. Martinez not only grew up in the neighborhood, he's also an alumnus of Lincoln High School, Class of 1966. The old school was a lot smaller and had deteriorated considerably.

JOSEPH MARTINEZ: (Architect): The structures were very old. And so, in terms of the new technology and the wiring, obviously it wasn't there. I think probably the sentimental feeling is: have to have a school that’s going to last a hundred years. This facility has been an educational facility for probably 40 to 50 years prior to that, and so here was that opportunity to provide a brand new school, state-of-the-art, best in California, and sort of be the flagship, if you will, of all new school construction for San Diego Unified.

MARTINEZ: So we designed the school to have four individual schools, and so each school has about 750 students, about 20-25 classrooms. They're actually in the four quadrants of the campus, which is a 28-acre site. They're essentially connected through this educational spine that you see moving east-west. 

HEILBRUNN: I'm standing in front of the old gym, the only building that remains from the original campus. About 300 students attended Lincoln HS the year it closed down, compared to 2400 who enrolled the year it reopened.

HEILBRUNN: And it's easy to see why. The new Lincoln boasts a modern performing arts center, classroom wired with high-speed Internet access and an impressive library. There's plenty of athletic fields and a football and track stadium that rivals one found on any college campus. It's a source of pride for a school that's sent more students to the National Football League than any other in the county.  But it's not just about athletics anymore.

COLLINS: I mean, everything known to man, to be on a high school campus, for the most part is here. So there is no excuse for you not to learn, hopefully to come and be motivated and turned on about this thing called education.

HEILBRUNN: A sometimes difficult task in a neighborhood known for fractured families and violence.

COLLINS: Kids who have other responsibilities other than being a student and helping out at home, and coming from very large extended families and maybe not getting the attention they would in a family of 3 or 4. The streets that they have to navigate getting here can be a challenge at times. Mostly in the afternoons because gangsters and thugs don't get up early, they come out after lunchtime.

HEILBRUNN: Do you lower your expectations of these students because of the challenges they face? 

COLLINS: It's like no, you're just like anybody else, and I expect that you will do what you can and we will do what we can while you're here and beyond, but you've got to show me some effort and I will show you lots of effort, but I'm going to hold you to the highest all the time. I mean, why shouldn't we? Because if we didn't, every kid that walked on campus, for the majority, we would lower our expectations.

HEILBRUNN: But when school lets out, Collins is aware that students walk off a campus lined with palm trees and into a neighborhood littered with gang activity. The school sits on Willie James Jones Avenue, named after a 1994 student and wrestling champion. Jones earned a scholarship to Cornell University, but was gunned down in a random gang shooting after leaving a high school graduation party.

HEILBRUNN: Still, the school is a symbol of hope for the community, of change. Whether the outcome will be different for these students than the students who attended the old Lincoln remains to be seen.

HEILBRUNN: Do you believe in second chances for these kids?

COLLINS: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

HEILBRUNN: So do you believe this is a second chance for this school?

COLLINS: Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, many people had a perception before, and some of them may have that same perception now, but if they walk through the gate and see what Lincoln High School has to offer, it's a whole different ball game.