School Pride (2010) s01e05 Episode Script
Hometown Heroes
Tonight on School Pride Our mission to restore pride and achievement to America's schools takes us to the mojave desert and a High School that has served generations of residents.
My grandma graduated in '60, my parents graduated in '74 and '80, and my sister graduated in '09.
It's real special.
Times are tougher now, but the small town spirit lives on.
What if this school burned down to the ground? I'd stay here and help build it back up.
Over 50% of these students take job training classes, but school district cutbacks could shut these programs down.
It has been one of the areas of neglect for the district for years.
Was that a mistake? Can we save these job programs and preserve the future for these kids? And will we get it done before a sand storm threatens the entire project? Yeah, we got trouble, man.
There's a big storm coming.
Four individuals from different walks of life have come together to help communities renovate their schools.
Are you ready? Susie castillo, designer and former miss usa.
It's a proven fact that when children have a better learning environment, like what we're giving them, test scores skyrocket, and they get better grades.
Jacob soboroff, political journalist, determined to find out why so many of our schools are on the brink of collapse.
I think that education in America is broken.
No teacher or no student should feel like their school is a prison.
Kym whitley, comedian and former teacher.
If you can give a child a great beginning, they could become anything.
And me, Tom stroup, team leader and SWAT commander.
We're basically community organizers.
It's about going to a community, helping the community help themselves.
This week we're off to needles High School in needles, California.
Hi, I'm Dakota, and I'm a sophomore.
Hey, I'm Andrew, and I'm a senior at needles High School.
The school was built in 1903.
And if you follow us, you'll see that not much has changed.
Well, this is one of our typical classrooms here at needles High School, and as you can see, it's pretty messed up.
I mean, the ceiling tiles are cracked.
Our blinds don't work.
As you can see, they've tied it to a projector.
Before you know it, this whiteboard is gonna be falling off the wall.
And take a look at the carpet.
Who knows what's down there.
Well, this here is the quad at needles, and to me, I thought this was a place where you could sit down, eat lunch, you know, hang out with some friends.
But you can't really do that here, as you can see.
Nothing but dirt.
Sports are a big deal for us, and we've won championships on this football field.
But as you can see, it don't really reflect how we play football.
If we had better equipment here, and we had better classrooms, we can actually learn in a safe environment and not have to worry about, like, tripping or getting electrocuted.
The shop classes that we offer are really important because half the people that graduate from needles High School stay here and be the mechanics, electricians, truss yard workers for this town.
So if we had better equipment, then that would help kids with the life skills they need to learn to be successful in their trade.
We're in a metal box.
My kids sit in a classroom that has limited air, no insulation.
Somebody's gonna have heat stroke because it's 100 degrees in here and we don't have any cooling systems.
I've been here 13 years, and every year, things have progressively gotten worse.
It's not if someone gets hurt, it's when somebody gets hurt.
Needles, a town of 5,000.
A school of 250.
Like, pretty much everyone in this town went here.
Once a mustang, always a mustang.
The school is basically the town.
There's been three generations of families that go here.
But in three generations, not a lot has been done to make this place a place that they should be proud of.
I think that if we get our school fixed, more people will have pride in, like, the school and the town.
[Cheers and applause.]
[School bell rings.]
[Siren wailing.]
[Siren wailing.]
I'm glad to be here, even though it is a little bit toasty.
- Very warm today.
- It is warm.
It's gonna be 100 degrees in needles today.
I mean, we are in the middle of the mojave desert.
I am so excited.
I've never been to needles.
This is like a small community.
That's what they said.
They said they have Friday night football games, everybody turns out for the football games out here.
This is a true Friday night lights school.
I think that, you know, this is kind of Being the rural area that it is, I think that there's a lot of trade that is taught at the school here.
They do a lot of, you know, wood shop, welding, mechanical stuff.
So I think this one's gonna be a little different than some of these schools we've worked on in the past.
- Yes.
- Okay, guys, we're here.
Put your game faces on, it's time to go to work.
I'm ready.
[Alarm buzzing.]
Let's go! [Alarm buzzing.]
All: Hey, come on down.
Come on down! [All cheering and shouting.]
Awesome! [Cheering.]
Okay, as you may have figured out by now, this is not a fire drill.
We are the school pride team.
[Cheers and applause.]
Where's Andrew? Right here.
All right, Andrew.
Where's Dakota? Because of you, we are here to renovate your school.
We can't do it without you.
We can't do it without you.
How many of you are gonna help us make over your school? [Cheers and applause.]
I love it! This is our countdown clock.
We have seven days Seven days only To rebuild this school.
Are you ready to start the clock? Let's count down.
Ready? Here we go.
All: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Start that clock! Let's go! I'm so excited right now.
Like, I want to yell at the top of my lungs.
I I'm, like, shaking right now.
[Cheering.]
Oh, my God, this is amazing.
You know, to be in a small town like this, and have somebody come and help us, it's just a dream come true.
Heads up.
The student body at needles, almost all the kids graduate.
But over 50% of these students go off to jobs right after High School.
This is a vocational training center, and that is vital to this community.
Why'd you send in the tape? I mean, what do you What do you hope to get from this? I sent in the tape because I think our school needs a lot of work.
It's just been, like, getting progressively worse.
This is my school.
It's gonna be my little cousin's school and My grandma graduated in '60, my parents graduated in '74 and '80, and my sister graduated in '09.
It's it's real special.
Talking to Andrew, I could start to get a sense of what it must feel like to live in a small town, and I could see why Andrew likes it.
I think it's pretty special here 'cause, walking around needles, you've got people asking you, "well, how's the team gonna be this year?" It sounds like needles has a lot of community pride.
Friday nights are a big part of the culture that goes on here.
Well, we actually have a big game coming up this Friday against river valley.
- That your rival? - Across the river rival.
We gotta get that field ready, then.
The last day of our rebuild, we're gonna have a big rivalry football game.
It's gonna be awesome.
Let's get that football field ready for Friday night, man.
All right, man.
Tell me about your world in here.
I mean, what goes on in here? What would you like to see happen in terms of renovation? Oh, just modernize it.
You know, update tools, update stations.
For God sakes, insulate it, you know? I mean, make it a little more livable for the students.
They want to learn something, but at the same time, they don't want to come down here and sweat and be miserable all the time.
By having these classes here at needles, it makes our students more well-rounded.
So in case they don't got to college, they have another career path to fall back on.
One of the things that we've always tried to instill is, hey, have pride in yourself, have pride in your school, have pride in your family, have pride in your community.
And, you know, sometimes they'll go, "how can we have pride in it when it looks like this?" It's not just a High School, it's a family.
And you know, that's the way the whole community goes.
You know, I just want good things for it.
'Cause my kids are gonna go here, so Make it the best I can.
I'm here to pick up my car.
- Yes, it's done.
- Okay, good.
And it's free, right? - The mechanical part is done.
- Mr.
ward, good to see you.
I've been teaching automotive mechanics at needles High School for around 13 years, and I love it.
But we need a better learning environment to teach these kids.
You know, I'm an old-school guy.
I like the older cars.
I have several classic cars at home.
But I'm trying to steer my kids here at school into something new, and get on with the program.
Mr.
ward's top frustrations with the program is that he's not teaching students up-to-date auto mechanics.
He doesn't have any of the electronic testing equipment in there, and it's very frustrating.
So in your 13 years of teaching here, what upgrades have been done to this building? To the building? Absolutely none.
- None? - None.
We need this for our kids.
We need this for their education because we're so far out in the middle of no man's land that the education that they could get from us is instrumental in what they do the rest of their life.
We've got our hands full with this school.
I'm gonna work on the vo-tech stuff Auto, electrical I'm gonna help Tom because we gotta figure out How did they let this building get into this shape? It's unsafe.
Well, I'm gonna take care of all the classrooms, so you guys don't have to worry about that.
I definitely think we need to take care of that dusty quad area.
It's a desert in the desert.
It really is.
And I would love to do the football field.
The scoreboard doesn't even work.
It gets so hot, it kind of fries out and doesn't work at all.
You said you're gonna take the field? I'm gonna take the concession stand.
And I'm gonna call it the "snack shack.
" Both: The snack shack! I like it.
All right, we've got a deadline for this Friday night Big football game.
Everybody's coming here for that football game.
So this is more than just a reveal for the school.
This is a reveal for the entire community.
- Right.
- Absolutely.
Let's get to work.
This school is so important.
It prepares kids for college and also professional trades careers straight out of High School.
We've got to make sure that we fix this school, because it's the future of these kids.
A lot of the volunteers are alumni.
Oh, hey! So they love the school, and they know that the school is the heartbeat of this community.
What class are you from? All: '95'97'96 '77.
- '77! - I'm an oldie! Got the '70s in the house! This community is made up of 5,000 people.
They all know each other.
They all work together.
They all have gone through needles high.
So we're not gonna just fix a High School.
We're actually fixing up the entire community.
- This shop bring back memories? - Oh, yeah.
In other cities, the volunteers all show up motivated and ready to work.
But it's different here at needles.
They show up with trade skills that they learned right here at needles High School, and that's proof that vocational programs work.
So how many of you guys took the skills you learned in these buildings and used them for a career later? Next door Welding fabrication.
That's what you do for a living? Yeah, that's part of my trade, yeah.
- And you became - Auto mechanic.
Based on what you learned here first.
Pretty much.
It's what got me started.
That's fantastic, man.
All right, well, you guys are keeping it alive, man.
Needles High School is 107 years old, so of course we need a big construction company to help us with this project.
And thank goodness brutoco answered the call.
We like to give back to the community.
And it's exciting for us.
What do you think that our biggest challenge will be in this project? I think the biggest challenge is the career tech building.
The auto shop, the wood shop.
If I was gonna schedule this job with all the tasks that we've got, it would probably be a two and a half month job.
Two and a half months? This is a tremendous amount of work to put together in such a short period of time.
It's hot outside in needles.
We have to work in the sun.
You have to work in the sun.
And right now we're registering 120 degrees outside.
We're gonna be able to do this in seven days? I'm certain it will be finished on time.
Oh, goody, goody, goody, goody! Everybody stand back! - Hit it! - Hit it! Come on! - Whoo-hoo.
- Whoo! - Hi, girls.
- Hello.
Wow, look at you.
Dakota's a lovely 14-year-old girl, born and raised in needles, and she really cares about her school.
So do you have any other family in needles? I have, like, my grandparents, and I have some cousins that live here too.
Do you get to see them often? My grandma actually works here at the library.
- Oh, she does? - Yeah.
Do you like your school? Yeah.
It has its ups and its downs.
Like, the ceiling tiles come down.
The classrooms are sometimes unsafe.
Right.
So it's that bad here? Yeah.
I've considered leaving.
You have? - Yeah.
- Sick of it? Well, it's kind of like you get sick of it, and it's, like, why do you want to stay here when you can go somewhere better? Right now you have students like Dakota that want to leave needles High School.
So I think it's important to kind of give them something that they would be totally psyched to go to school for.
So I am on a mission, Dakota, to change your mind about needles High School.
All right.
I promise you, in six days you'll have a different school.
- Needles is a working-class town, and not all the kids who graduate from High School here go off to college.
A lot of them go into professional trades.
And without these shop programs, what are they gonna do with their careers, with their futures? Hi.
Miss Blake? - Hello.
Yes.
- I'm Jacob.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Pam Blake is in charge of the shop class program.
And that's r.
O.
P.
The regional occupation program here in needles High School.
How important are the regional occupation programs to the students at needles High School? Needles High School wouldn't be what it is without r.
O.
P.
, I can tell you that right now.
How were the facilities of the r.
O.
P.
Treated? They were ignored.
And do you think about all of the things that need to be fixed? Do I think about it? Yes.
And do I get mad? Yes.
And do I argue with people? Yes.
And I can't win.
Who are you fighting the battles against? My board.
- The school board.
- Yes.
Does the board think that these kids don't need these jobs? Where are the kids gonna learn? They don't care about those jobs.
They don't care.
The board thinks that they're either college-bound or that they're going to, you know, pick it up somewhere else.
And that just burns my ass.
There's a need for these kids to have these programs here at needles because these kids need to be exposed to as much as we can give them.
We don't live in a metropolitan area, where the kids can go to tech schools we're it.
I really wish that the school board would understand that.
I hope that we can reduce the number of fights you're gonna have to have with the school district.
And we've gotta prove that that school board is making the wrong decisions.
Yeah.
- Are you with me? - Oh, hell yes.
- Okay, good.
- I'm with you.
Yeah.
Whoo! It is hot out here! Whoa, 116! Wow! It's really great to see the community come together.
Especially in this heat.
You hungry? My leg is now at 124.
It's a chicken leg right now.
Whoo, anybody got a biscuit to go with this chicken? Whoo, we got a hot one! Are we cutting that line across? Yeah, we're gonna have to cut that across.
- Andrew - What's up, Tom? - How's it going? - How's it going, boss? How is this staying open and what you do, as far as your job, actually, gonna be affected by what we're doing here now? It's great.
It's great for me.
It'll be great for the kids.
A lot of these kids come from, you know, lower-income families.
And for the kid to step in right out of High School and get a job that pays him 12 bucks an hour is huge.
- Yeah.
- You know, it's important to me to see these kids grow and expand and actually have other avenues of life to choose.
You know, not just either go to college or you're a bum.
It's like, if they want to go in the trades, they're gonna have a base for it now.
So you're doing job placement.
Absolutely.
You gotta, you know You have to be able to do that kind of stuff in a small town.
Needles High School is extremely important to the whole community.
So I try to make it as best I can an give everything I can to it.
You know, I saw you on the tape, and I heard what you had to say, and you were very passionate.
Well, it's my home away from home.
Most of my family either works here now or worked here before.
My dad is a football coach here.
My mom, she's director of the shop classes.
My husband's a teacher here Shop teacher.
So there's a long history.
What is the most frustrating part about getting the school fixed up? The most frustrating thing is to look around and think that somebody doesn't care.
That's what it looks like.
And we do care about this place.
That's the most frustrating thing.
It must hurt your feelings to see this school go down.
Yeah, it's not the school I remember, you know? The kids still try, and we still pound it into 'em that you need to be proud and don't talk bad about it.
But when the negative things start to be more than the positive things, then, you know, they feel it.
Have you ever wanted to leave? No.
No matter how bad the school got? What if this school burned down to the ground? I would not I'd stay here and help build it back up.
Oh, that was Would you? Yes, I would.
Mrs.
hanline's committed to all of the students, the teachers She loves this school.
And I want see Mrs.
hanline smiling at the seventh day.
What would be your favorite thing to see happen? I want 'em to walk away just being proud that they went to school here, like everybody else is.
Well, why don't we get back to work.
You got it? I got it.
I'm good.
Now I have to go See what you did to me? I'm on campus, it's 9:00 at night, and I see these sparks coming from the football field.
- What are you doing? - Gonna save the mustang.
So what's motivating you to do that? I'm the ninth child in the family, and this is a big thing to us.
This has been here since my eldest brother's been here.
It's worth saving, to me.
Yeah, you're right.
I graduated last year.
I came this week to help out our shop classes.
I just don't see where I would be in life right now if I didn't have this education.
So where'd you learn how to do this at? I took three years of welding here.
- Here at the school? - Yeah.
Now, do you plan on using this as a career? I'm currently in classes for it to further on my education.
- You are? - Yeah.
- Can I help you? - Yeah.
This mustang is a symbol to Tommy.
It's mustang pride.
We're gonna live here in this community, where we feel like we're forgotten, but we're gonna thrive anyway.
You're not afraid of hard work, are you? [Chuckles.]
Nice work, man.
We'll throw it in the welding shop on the bench.
All right.
I'll grab this end.
Watch my head.
Good thing I'm wearing a helmet.
Pam Blake is telling me that this program is not getting the funds that it needs to have.
And she told me to go speak to Bob Smith, who's the vice president of the school board of the needles school district.
Hi, Mr.
Smith.
Hi, how do you do? I went to talk to him because I wanted to understand why the school board chose not to fund the renovation of the r.
O.
P.
Building.
When we showed up, the building that housed the shop program at the High School Those classrooms in that shop building are some of the most potentially unsafe classrooms that we've seen across the country.
- Right? - Was it a safe building? UhIt probably has been one of the areas of neglect for the district for years.
They look the same as what they did when I went to school there, which was back in the '70s.
But the shop programs are pretty important to 50% of the kids who graduate are in the shop programs.
Oh, you're absolutely right.
I would say it's one of the most important programs.
Especially for those students who have no desire to go on to college, you know.
They need something like this.
Does the funding level of that program match the importance of it? What it really comes down to is what we were going to do is to build a gym at the middle school.
What's more important, a gym at the middle school, or a shop class that's gonna send kids off to their professional career? They gym would serve probably all the kids at the High School, the middle school, and most of the kids in the community.
We prioritize what would be used the most.
I understand how hard your job is.
But the community has been out there working almost 24 hours a day because they know how important it is to the kids here.
Are we gonna be able to keep up the services that the shop classes provide going forward? I think with what we're looking at now, we need to basically increase the quality of the program we have there.
Hopefully we have raised awareness, and the school board understands that they need to give this shop program the attention that it deserves.
And if this High School is not working right for the kids, they're not going to be able to get the jobs that they need to succeed in a tough economy.
Football is extremely important to a small town.
In this heat in needles, California, you have to have a concession stand because you have to have refreshments.
And the concession stand that was there before, it was not a real concession stand.
So I decided that they need a snack shack.
All right, looking good.
Looking good.
You guys are doing a great job.
Thanks.
Putting the last coat on now.
- Oh, fantastic.
- Pretty much done.
All right, we gotta stock this concession stand up! I wanted to make the snack shack special.
I didn't want us to stock it with the same peanuts and hotdogs and popcorn and all of that.
So I went to Walmart to get fresh produce to stock the snack shack.
Oh, smell the freshness of those.
- You can smell it? - Yeah, smell that.
I got fresh produce where I could make smoothies.
We can have fresh fruit.
Just some other options for the kids.
Okay, ladies, start grabbing melons and corn and peaches and watermelons.
- Look at this corn.
- The corn looks great.
Yeah.
That's a good one.
Doesn't that look good? Mm, that's fresh.
Oh, wow, those are gonna make wonderful smoothies.
Not only is Walmart donating the fresh produce for the game on Friday, they're also donating 12 citrus trees so you can sustain the fresh produce at the school.
That is so awesome.
- That's fantastic.
- Do you know how hot it is? Not only can you get some great fresh fruit, but you can also get some shade.
It's gonna be wonderful for the kids.
- Hi, miss Dakota.
- Hi.
- How's it going over here? - Good.
You know, for Dakota, her entire family has graduated from needles High School.
I mean, if she leaves now, and doesn't graduate from needles high, essentially, she's breaking a family tradition.
Does it make you guys sad at all that Dakota's so unhappy that she would love to leave needles? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things she wants to do, and it's kind of hard for her to do it here in a small town.
So in terms of just being social, there's not much.
Yeah.
All we have is, like, the river.
The school is their environment.
I mean, we don't have a movie theater.
We don't have places for kids to go here.
So they need that.
Right.
They need the interaction, other than what they only get in the classroom.
Yeah, I think so too.
I think that the perfect thing to give needles High School would be a new student entertainment lounge that's filled with areas where they can sit and socialize.
And they don't have that right now, and I think that would make a lot of the students a lot happier.
- Gonna put up my friend.
- Right on.
Perfect.
Football team comes down that ramp, they'll tap on this for good luck every time they walk by it.
It'll mean a lot to a lot of people.
Well, it's the symbol of your school, man.
I mean, you saved it, and it's kind of what we're doing here at the vo-tech building too, you know.
We're saving it.
Yeah.
So it's perfectly symbolic.
I'm hoping from now on that people walk by it and tap on it, slap it, kiss it, maybe.
Blue pride.
Blue pride.
- Because this town, we are so tight-knit.
Being a mustang is what keeps us all together.
All right, guys, let's get plantin'.
It's day six.
A little bit of landscaping to go, and home depot is really helping us out.
What you're gonna want to do is you're gonna want to dig twice as deep and twice as wide as the bucket.
Like, what you've got right there is perfect.
When you get your soil you're gonna mix your soil 50/50 to the soil that's in the ground.
Here in this climate, it's not so good to spray the entire plant during the summer.
So we're just gonna spray right around the roots.
It's day six.
Reveal is tomorrow morning.
And we have the big football game that's happening, so we asked the students and the teachers to leave.
We sent them away to prepare for the big football game [whistles blow.]
We still have a lot to do, but I'm feeling pretty confident that we can get it down.
This one will be over here.
Tomorrow's the big day.
Everything is looking great.
And then I look up and I see a giant sandstorm, and it's coming right at us.
Hey, Jacob, this is Tom.
Go ahead, Tom.
Yeah, we got trouble, man.
There's a big storm coming.
Tom, help these guys clean this stuff up.
We've got trees broken.
Garage door's blowing in.
The snack shack's all blown to pieces.
We've got trash everywhere.
18 hours to go, man.
We got a lot of damage.
The sandstorm hits us This is not good.
There is stuff everywhere.
All I could think of We have 18 hours to go, and now this? Jacob.
Go ahead, Tom.
I'm walking through the library quad.
It's a mess, man.
- Copy.
- It's not safe like this.
Get some more volunteers down here, and let's get this thing cleaned up.
I'm gonna get on it right now.
Okay.
The storm came in the 11th hour.
We had to call back landscapers, painters, and just general cleanup crews.
We need help, and we need help now.
That dust storm That's the first time I've been in a dust storm like that.
I mean, it destroyed things, but thank goodness this community came together, and that's why we got this school finished.
- Yeah.
- Ten seconds! All: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[Cheering.]
Nice job, guys.
Nice job.
Literally half of this city came out this week to volunteer on this project.
2,500 people.
That's extraordinary.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
It's time to show this community what they have done to their own school.
And it is time to give it back to them.
[Cheers and applause.]
Oh, my God, this is happening right now.
And it's one of those things that you think never happens to people like you It's amazing.
I'm on pins and needles.
I have butterflies in my stomach.
I can't wait to see what everybody's hard work produced.
All: needles mustangs I'm excited.
[Cheering.]
Oh, my gosh, look at that! [Cheers and applause.]
I could see all the new landscaping up front.
And I saw the school pride team standing there, huge red ribbon.
Everyone on the bus had smiles ear to ear.
[Shouting and cheering.]
Welcome back, needles High School! Welcome back! [Cheers and applause.]
Seven days ago, we came together and we said we, the community, can rebuild and renovate this school, and you did it.
Dakota and Andrew, this journey began with the two of you, so I think that you should have the honor of cutting the ribbon.
[Cheers and applause.]
All: 3, 2, 1.
[Cheers and applause.]
Welcome to your new quad! Yeah! Oh, my God.
It's kind of breathtaking.
I get to go to this school and, I mean, this looks like a college campus.
Seeing it now with tables, chairs Citrus trees on top of that.
I mean, it's gonna be a hot spot now, needles High School.
I'm standing in the middle of the auto shop.
I can hear everybody cheering and hollering.
I can't wait to see Mr.
ward's reaction.
[Whistles.]
Oh, my God! Yeah! Welcome to your new auto shop! They opened them doors to that shop, and my eyes got as big as silver dollars.
I couldn't recognize the place when I walked in the door.
The colors, the shelving, the equipment, the toolboxes.
Every step I take I'm taking into another realm of new.
Onstar provides diagnostic checks for all of their subscribers every day.
And that's why they donated all of this state-of-the-art equipment for your auto shop.
And to make your learning experience even better, they donated a 2010 camaro! [Cheers and applause.]
Awesome! Pop that hood, Mr.
ward.
These kids are gonna enjoy working on this.
- How do you like it, ward? - I'm in awe.
And then they started showing me all the new equipment that goes with that car.
The new onstar test equipment.
The new electronics test equipment.
And I'm going, "wow.
"These kids are as excited to work on this vehicle as I am.
" I'm in awe.
I just cannot believe it.
And I can't wait for school to start.
[Cheers and applause.]
Standing in front of that door, my heart's pounding out of my chest.
I'm surprised I didn't have to hold it in there.
If you looked at those shops before, they're dirty, they have holes in the walls, they're missing windows.
I'm, like, "oh, my God, can you believe this is happening?" OhYeah! [laughter.]
It's like a whole different room.
Oh, my God! I have insulation.
There's no open windows.
There's actually room in here, dude.
I know.
There's actually shelves and stuff.
I think my class is gonna have a lot more students enrolled in it.
Because now we have all these tools, and there's a lot more things we can do.
What are you gonna do with all this technology? As much as I can, I guess.
If you can engage those kids, especially in the shop classes, you'll have 'em for life.
It's gonna be amazing.
- That was great.
- Oh, my God, baby! Come in! Come in! Come in! Welcome to the microsoft entertainment lounge! [Cheering.]
Oh, my God.
I've been teaching for four years, and it was very moving to me just to see what you can do in such a short time.
And just knowing that these kids deserve it.
Oh, God, this is beautiful.
I can't believe it.
We can make a difference in our children's lives.
What do you think? Is this cool? It's amazing.
I was not expecting it at all.
It's amazing to see the transformation happen with Dakota, you know.
I mean, she just lit up.
She was just so energetic.
She was a different Dakota than what I saw when I first got to needles.
Dude, no friggin' way! Susie did amazing with the student lounge.
I never would have expected that to be here at needles High School.
It means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to everybody else.
Well, to make the day even cooler for you guys, I wanted to show you these new hp touchsmart pcs.
And they are totally equipped with windows 7 and windows live messenger.
And, basically, it allows you to have all your social networking sites on one page.
So you only have to go to one place to get all the updates.
Is there a place where you want to - I'm staying.
- Yes? - I'm staying.
- You're gonna stay? Yay! Seeing how many people came out here to help, it just brought me closer to everybody and to the school.
I think back to, like, why did I ever want to leave? Hi! Welcome to your new snack shack! [Cheering.]
Walmart donated all this fresh produce that you see and the citrus trees in the quad! [Cheers and applause.]
Yay! Let's have smoothies! [Cheers and applause.]
When those football games are packed with screaming fans, they have a place to go enjoy themselves at the snack shack.
Get whatever you want.
We have it all.
I think whitley did pretty good this time.
Aah, Andrew! What you think? What you think? Great.
The snack bar's off the charts.
And I'm pretty excited to play on a new football field.
It feels great to have a redone field and a new scoreboard.
I mean, the grand opening of our school, we gotta win.
After the reveal, it's time for the big football game.
And I can't wait to see the blue and white of those mustangs come marching down that ramp.
Let's go, mustangs! [Cheers and applause.]
Start us off right right now here we go.
[Cheers and applause.]
[All cheering.]
All: Defense! Defense! I love this school, and I'm really hoping that people who come here now will have no reason to say anything bad about needles, or they don't need to drive up the hill and see a white, rusted building.
They're gonna see a white and blue, well-maintained, beautiful-looking school.
[Calling signals.]
Outside 22! Outside contain! Outside contain! [Whistle blows.]
Oh, we had him.
Shoot! Get it back.
What I've learned about a community of 5,000 people is that you have to stick together.
All: Needles mustangs! Needles mustangs! - This is a tight-knit community.
Everyone helps each other.
Here they go! Here they go! - HeyEnd over wing left, 27-r Jack on one.
Break.
- Come on, Andrew! - Yeah! Do what I told you! Ready! Go! [Cheers and applause.]
Run it in! Go for the two points! Understand that? All: Yes, sir! Show 'em what you're all about let's go, light six! Hey, it's all or nothing, baby, it's all or nothing.
- Come on, blue! - Ready Go! Whoo! Touchdown! [Cheers and applause.]
Good job! Good job, mustangs! Good work, mustangs.
Way to fight.
Way to fight! That was a great ending to a wonderful week.
I've learned that our community is full of a lot of really hard-working, caring people.
And as much as I thought I loved this place, I think I love it even more than I knew.
What I hope people get out of this is they realize how tight-knit our community is, and how dedicated they were.
And to be a part of that, I know that's something I'll never forget.
- Hey, have a good season, man.
- All right.
Thanks for coming down.
It means a lot to us.
Enjoy your new school.
This was the perfect ending to the perfect week To see this school transformed and to see this football team go out there in front of their whole community and get the "w.
" If you want to see school pride, go to a needles football game.
That is school pride.
Academically, it's really helped our kids tremendously.
Classes are fuller.
I think the kids are more interested in being in class.
They have something to come to, and they're enjoying that.
I think that it's a tremendous help to them.
My grandma graduated in '60, my parents graduated in '74 and '80, and my sister graduated in '09.
It's real special.
Times are tougher now, but the small town spirit lives on.
What if this school burned down to the ground? I'd stay here and help build it back up.
Over 50% of these students take job training classes, but school district cutbacks could shut these programs down.
It has been one of the areas of neglect for the district for years.
Was that a mistake? Can we save these job programs and preserve the future for these kids? And will we get it done before a sand storm threatens the entire project? Yeah, we got trouble, man.
There's a big storm coming.
Four individuals from different walks of life have come together to help communities renovate their schools.
Are you ready? Susie castillo, designer and former miss usa.
It's a proven fact that when children have a better learning environment, like what we're giving them, test scores skyrocket, and they get better grades.
Jacob soboroff, political journalist, determined to find out why so many of our schools are on the brink of collapse.
I think that education in America is broken.
No teacher or no student should feel like their school is a prison.
Kym whitley, comedian and former teacher.
If you can give a child a great beginning, they could become anything.
And me, Tom stroup, team leader and SWAT commander.
We're basically community organizers.
It's about going to a community, helping the community help themselves.
This week we're off to needles High School in needles, California.
Hi, I'm Dakota, and I'm a sophomore.
Hey, I'm Andrew, and I'm a senior at needles High School.
The school was built in 1903.
And if you follow us, you'll see that not much has changed.
Well, this is one of our typical classrooms here at needles High School, and as you can see, it's pretty messed up.
I mean, the ceiling tiles are cracked.
Our blinds don't work.
As you can see, they've tied it to a projector.
Before you know it, this whiteboard is gonna be falling off the wall.
And take a look at the carpet.
Who knows what's down there.
Well, this here is the quad at needles, and to me, I thought this was a place where you could sit down, eat lunch, you know, hang out with some friends.
But you can't really do that here, as you can see.
Nothing but dirt.
Sports are a big deal for us, and we've won championships on this football field.
But as you can see, it don't really reflect how we play football.
If we had better equipment here, and we had better classrooms, we can actually learn in a safe environment and not have to worry about, like, tripping or getting electrocuted.
The shop classes that we offer are really important because half the people that graduate from needles High School stay here and be the mechanics, electricians, truss yard workers for this town.
So if we had better equipment, then that would help kids with the life skills they need to learn to be successful in their trade.
We're in a metal box.
My kids sit in a classroom that has limited air, no insulation.
Somebody's gonna have heat stroke because it's 100 degrees in here and we don't have any cooling systems.
I've been here 13 years, and every year, things have progressively gotten worse.
It's not if someone gets hurt, it's when somebody gets hurt.
Needles, a town of 5,000.
A school of 250.
Like, pretty much everyone in this town went here.
Once a mustang, always a mustang.
The school is basically the town.
There's been three generations of families that go here.
But in three generations, not a lot has been done to make this place a place that they should be proud of.
I think that if we get our school fixed, more people will have pride in, like, the school and the town.
[Cheers and applause.]
[School bell rings.]
[Siren wailing.]
[Siren wailing.]
I'm glad to be here, even though it is a little bit toasty.
- Very warm today.
- It is warm.
It's gonna be 100 degrees in needles today.
I mean, we are in the middle of the mojave desert.
I am so excited.
I've never been to needles.
This is like a small community.
That's what they said.
They said they have Friday night football games, everybody turns out for the football games out here.
This is a true Friday night lights school.
I think that, you know, this is kind of Being the rural area that it is, I think that there's a lot of trade that is taught at the school here.
They do a lot of, you know, wood shop, welding, mechanical stuff.
So I think this one's gonna be a little different than some of these schools we've worked on in the past.
- Yes.
- Okay, guys, we're here.
Put your game faces on, it's time to go to work.
I'm ready.
[Alarm buzzing.]
Let's go! [Alarm buzzing.]
All: Hey, come on down.
Come on down! [All cheering and shouting.]
Awesome! [Cheering.]
Okay, as you may have figured out by now, this is not a fire drill.
We are the school pride team.
[Cheers and applause.]
Where's Andrew? Right here.
All right, Andrew.
Where's Dakota? Because of you, we are here to renovate your school.
We can't do it without you.
We can't do it without you.
How many of you are gonna help us make over your school? [Cheers and applause.]
I love it! This is our countdown clock.
We have seven days Seven days only To rebuild this school.
Are you ready to start the clock? Let's count down.
Ready? Here we go.
All: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Start that clock! Let's go! I'm so excited right now.
Like, I want to yell at the top of my lungs.
I I'm, like, shaking right now.
[Cheering.]
Oh, my God, this is amazing.
You know, to be in a small town like this, and have somebody come and help us, it's just a dream come true.
Heads up.
The student body at needles, almost all the kids graduate.
But over 50% of these students go off to jobs right after High School.
This is a vocational training center, and that is vital to this community.
Why'd you send in the tape? I mean, what do you What do you hope to get from this? I sent in the tape because I think our school needs a lot of work.
It's just been, like, getting progressively worse.
This is my school.
It's gonna be my little cousin's school and My grandma graduated in '60, my parents graduated in '74 and '80, and my sister graduated in '09.
It's it's real special.
Talking to Andrew, I could start to get a sense of what it must feel like to live in a small town, and I could see why Andrew likes it.
I think it's pretty special here 'cause, walking around needles, you've got people asking you, "well, how's the team gonna be this year?" It sounds like needles has a lot of community pride.
Friday nights are a big part of the culture that goes on here.
Well, we actually have a big game coming up this Friday against river valley.
- That your rival? - Across the river rival.
We gotta get that field ready, then.
The last day of our rebuild, we're gonna have a big rivalry football game.
It's gonna be awesome.
Let's get that football field ready for Friday night, man.
All right, man.
Tell me about your world in here.
I mean, what goes on in here? What would you like to see happen in terms of renovation? Oh, just modernize it.
You know, update tools, update stations.
For God sakes, insulate it, you know? I mean, make it a little more livable for the students.
They want to learn something, but at the same time, they don't want to come down here and sweat and be miserable all the time.
By having these classes here at needles, it makes our students more well-rounded.
So in case they don't got to college, they have another career path to fall back on.
One of the things that we've always tried to instill is, hey, have pride in yourself, have pride in your school, have pride in your family, have pride in your community.
And, you know, sometimes they'll go, "how can we have pride in it when it looks like this?" It's not just a High School, it's a family.
And you know, that's the way the whole community goes.
You know, I just want good things for it.
'Cause my kids are gonna go here, so Make it the best I can.
I'm here to pick up my car.
- Yes, it's done.
- Okay, good.
And it's free, right? - The mechanical part is done.
- Mr.
ward, good to see you.
I've been teaching automotive mechanics at needles High School for around 13 years, and I love it.
But we need a better learning environment to teach these kids.
You know, I'm an old-school guy.
I like the older cars.
I have several classic cars at home.
But I'm trying to steer my kids here at school into something new, and get on with the program.
Mr.
ward's top frustrations with the program is that he's not teaching students up-to-date auto mechanics.
He doesn't have any of the electronic testing equipment in there, and it's very frustrating.
So in your 13 years of teaching here, what upgrades have been done to this building? To the building? Absolutely none.
- None? - None.
We need this for our kids.
We need this for their education because we're so far out in the middle of no man's land that the education that they could get from us is instrumental in what they do the rest of their life.
We've got our hands full with this school.
I'm gonna work on the vo-tech stuff Auto, electrical I'm gonna help Tom because we gotta figure out How did they let this building get into this shape? It's unsafe.
Well, I'm gonna take care of all the classrooms, so you guys don't have to worry about that.
I definitely think we need to take care of that dusty quad area.
It's a desert in the desert.
It really is.
And I would love to do the football field.
The scoreboard doesn't even work.
It gets so hot, it kind of fries out and doesn't work at all.
You said you're gonna take the field? I'm gonna take the concession stand.
And I'm gonna call it the "snack shack.
" Both: The snack shack! I like it.
All right, we've got a deadline for this Friday night Big football game.
Everybody's coming here for that football game.
So this is more than just a reveal for the school.
This is a reveal for the entire community.
- Right.
- Absolutely.
Let's get to work.
This school is so important.
It prepares kids for college and also professional trades careers straight out of High School.
We've got to make sure that we fix this school, because it's the future of these kids.
A lot of the volunteers are alumni.
Oh, hey! So they love the school, and they know that the school is the heartbeat of this community.
What class are you from? All: '95'97'96 '77.
- '77! - I'm an oldie! Got the '70s in the house! This community is made up of 5,000 people.
They all know each other.
They all work together.
They all have gone through needles high.
So we're not gonna just fix a High School.
We're actually fixing up the entire community.
- This shop bring back memories? - Oh, yeah.
In other cities, the volunteers all show up motivated and ready to work.
But it's different here at needles.
They show up with trade skills that they learned right here at needles High School, and that's proof that vocational programs work.
So how many of you guys took the skills you learned in these buildings and used them for a career later? Next door Welding fabrication.
That's what you do for a living? Yeah, that's part of my trade, yeah.
- And you became - Auto mechanic.
Based on what you learned here first.
Pretty much.
It's what got me started.
That's fantastic, man.
All right, well, you guys are keeping it alive, man.
Needles High School is 107 years old, so of course we need a big construction company to help us with this project.
And thank goodness brutoco answered the call.
We like to give back to the community.
And it's exciting for us.
What do you think that our biggest challenge will be in this project? I think the biggest challenge is the career tech building.
The auto shop, the wood shop.
If I was gonna schedule this job with all the tasks that we've got, it would probably be a two and a half month job.
Two and a half months? This is a tremendous amount of work to put together in such a short period of time.
It's hot outside in needles.
We have to work in the sun.
You have to work in the sun.
And right now we're registering 120 degrees outside.
We're gonna be able to do this in seven days? I'm certain it will be finished on time.
Oh, goody, goody, goody, goody! Everybody stand back! - Hit it! - Hit it! Come on! - Whoo-hoo.
- Whoo! - Hi, girls.
- Hello.
Wow, look at you.
Dakota's a lovely 14-year-old girl, born and raised in needles, and she really cares about her school.
So do you have any other family in needles? I have, like, my grandparents, and I have some cousins that live here too.
Do you get to see them often? My grandma actually works here at the library.
- Oh, she does? - Yeah.
Do you like your school? Yeah.
It has its ups and its downs.
Like, the ceiling tiles come down.
The classrooms are sometimes unsafe.
Right.
So it's that bad here? Yeah.
I've considered leaving.
You have? - Yeah.
- Sick of it? Well, it's kind of like you get sick of it, and it's, like, why do you want to stay here when you can go somewhere better? Right now you have students like Dakota that want to leave needles High School.
So I think it's important to kind of give them something that they would be totally psyched to go to school for.
So I am on a mission, Dakota, to change your mind about needles High School.
All right.
I promise you, in six days you'll have a different school.
- Needles is a working-class town, and not all the kids who graduate from High School here go off to college.
A lot of them go into professional trades.
And without these shop programs, what are they gonna do with their careers, with their futures? Hi.
Miss Blake? - Hello.
Yes.
- I'm Jacob.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Pam Blake is in charge of the shop class program.
And that's r.
O.
P.
The regional occupation program here in needles High School.
How important are the regional occupation programs to the students at needles High School? Needles High School wouldn't be what it is without r.
O.
P.
, I can tell you that right now.
How were the facilities of the r.
O.
P.
Treated? They were ignored.
And do you think about all of the things that need to be fixed? Do I think about it? Yes.
And do I get mad? Yes.
And do I argue with people? Yes.
And I can't win.
Who are you fighting the battles against? My board.
- The school board.
- Yes.
Does the board think that these kids don't need these jobs? Where are the kids gonna learn? They don't care about those jobs.
They don't care.
The board thinks that they're either college-bound or that they're going to, you know, pick it up somewhere else.
And that just burns my ass.
There's a need for these kids to have these programs here at needles because these kids need to be exposed to as much as we can give them.
We don't live in a metropolitan area, where the kids can go to tech schools we're it.
I really wish that the school board would understand that.
I hope that we can reduce the number of fights you're gonna have to have with the school district.
And we've gotta prove that that school board is making the wrong decisions.
Yeah.
- Are you with me? - Oh, hell yes.
- Okay, good.
- I'm with you.
Yeah.
Whoo! It is hot out here! Whoa, 116! Wow! It's really great to see the community come together.
Especially in this heat.
You hungry? My leg is now at 124.
It's a chicken leg right now.
Whoo, anybody got a biscuit to go with this chicken? Whoo, we got a hot one! Are we cutting that line across? Yeah, we're gonna have to cut that across.
- Andrew - What's up, Tom? - How's it going? - How's it going, boss? How is this staying open and what you do, as far as your job, actually, gonna be affected by what we're doing here now? It's great.
It's great for me.
It'll be great for the kids.
A lot of these kids come from, you know, lower-income families.
And for the kid to step in right out of High School and get a job that pays him 12 bucks an hour is huge.
- Yeah.
- You know, it's important to me to see these kids grow and expand and actually have other avenues of life to choose.
You know, not just either go to college or you're a bum.
It's like, if they want to go in the trades, they're gonna have a base for it now.
So you're doing job placement.
Absolutely.
You gotta, you know You have to be able to do that kind of stuff in a small town.
Needles High School is extremely important to the whole community.
So I try to make it as best I can an give everything I can to it.
You know, I saw you on the tape, and I heard what you had to say, and you were very passionate.
Well, it's my home away from home.
Most of my family either works here now or worked here before.
My dad is a football coach here.
My mom, she's director of the shop classes.
My husband's a teacher here Shop teacher.
So there's a long history.
What is the most frustrating part about getting the school fixed up? The most frustrating thing is to look around and think that somebody doesn't care.
That's what it looks like.
And we do care about this place.
That's the most frustrating thing.
It must hurt your feelings to see this school go down.
Yeah, it's not the school I remember, you know? The kids still try, and we still pound it into 'em that you need to be proud and don't talk bad about it.
But when the negative things start to be more than the positive things, then, you know, they feel it.
Have you ever wanted to leave? No.
No matter how bad the school got? What if this school burned down to the ground? I would not I'd stay here and help build it back up.
Oh, that was Would you? Yes, I would.
Mrs.
hanline's committed to all of the students, the teachers She loves this school.
And I want see Mrs.
hanline smiling at the seventh day.
What would be your favorite thing to see happen? I want 'em to walk away just being proud that they went to school here, like everybody else is.
Well, why don't we get back to work.
You got it? I got it.
I'm good.
Now I have to go See what you did to me? I'm on campus, it's 9:00 at night, and I see these sparks coming from the football field.
- What are you doing? - Gonna save the mustang.
So what's motivating you to do that? I'm the ninth child in the family, and this is a big thing to us.
This has been here since my eldest brother's been here.
It's worth saving, to me.
Yeah, you're right.
I graduated last year.
I came this week to help out our shop classes.
I just don't see where I would be in life right now if I didn't have this education.
So where'd you learn how to do this at? I took three years of welding here.
- Here at the school? - Yeah.
Now, do you plan on using this as a career? I'm currently in classes for it to further on my education.
- You are? - Yeah.
- Can I help you? - Yeah.
This mustang is a symbol to Tommy.
It's mustang pride.
We're gonna live here in this community, where we feel like we're forgotten, but we're gonna thrive anyway.
You're not afraid of hard work, are you? [Chuckles.]
Nice work, man.
We'll throw it in the welding shop on the bench.
All right.
I'll grab this end.
Watch my head.
Good thing I'm wearing a helmet.
Pam Blake is telling me that this program is not getting the funds that it needs to have.
And she told me to go speak to Bob Smith, who's the vice president of the school board of the needles school district.
Hi, Mr.
Smith.
Hi, how do you do? I went to talk to him because I wanted to understand why the school board chose not to fund the renovation of the r.
O.
P.
Building.
When we showed up, the building that housed the shop program at the High School Those classrooms in that shop building are some of the most potentially unsafe classrooms that we've seen across the country.
- Right? - Was it a safe building? UhIt probably has been one of the areas of neglect for the district for years.
They look the same as what they did when I went to school there, which was back in the '70s.
But the shop programs are pretty important to 50% of the kids who graduate are in the shop programs.
Oh, you're absolutely right.
I would say it's one of the most important programs.
Especially for those students who have no desire to go on to college, you know.
They need something like this.
Does the funding level of that program match the importance of it? What it really comes down to is what we were going to do is to build a gym at the middle school.
What's more important, a gym at the middle school, or a shop class that's gonna send kids off to their professional career? They gym would serve probably all the kids at the High School, the middle school, and most of the kids in the community.
We prioritize what would be used the most.
I understand how hard your job is.
But the community has been out there working almost 24 hours a day because they know how important it is to the kids here.
Are we gonna be able to keep up the services that the shop classes provide going forward? I think with what we're looking at now, we need to basically increase the quality of the program we have there.
Hopefully we have raised awareness, and the school board understands that they need to give this shop program the attention that it deserves.
And if this High School is not working right for the kids, they're not going to be able to get the jobs that they need to succeed in a tough economy.
Football is extremely important to a small town.
In this heat in needles, California, you have to have a concession stand because you have to have refreshments.
And the concession stand that was there before, it was not a real concession stand.
So I decided that they need a snack shack.
All right, looking good.
Looking good.
You guys are doing a great job.
Thanks.
Putting the last coat on now.
- Oh, fantastic.
- Pretty much done.
All right, we gotta stock this concession stand up! I wanted to make the snack shack special.
I didn't want us to stock it with the same peanuts and hotdogs and popcorn and all of that.
So I went to Walmart to get fresh produce to stock the snack shack.
Oh, smell the freshness of those.
- You can smell it? - Yeah, smell that.
I got fresh produce where I could make smoothies.
We can have fresh fruit.
Just some other options for the kids.
Okay, ladies, start grabbing melons and corn and peaches and watermelons.
- Look at this corn.
- The corn looks great.
Yeah.
That's a good one.
Doesn't that look good? Mm, that's fresh.
Oh, wow, those are gonna make wonderful smoothies.
Not only is Walmart donating the fresh produce for the game on Friday, they're also donating 12 citrus trees so you can sustain the fresh produce at the school.
That is so awesome.
- That's fantastic.
- Do you know how hot it is? Not only can you get some great fresh fruit, but you can also get some shade.
It's gonna be wonderful for the kids.
- Hi, miss Dakota.
- Hi.
- How's it going over here? - Good.
You know, for Dakota, her entire family has graduated from needles High School.
I mean, if she leaves now, and doesn't graduate from needles high, essentially, she's breaking a family tradition.
Does it make you guys sad at all that Dakota's so unhappy that she would love to leave needles? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things she wants to do, and it's kind of hard for her to do it here in a small town.
So in terms of just being social, there's not much.
Yeah.
All we have is, like, the river.
The school is their environment.
I mean, we don't have a movie theater.
We don't have places for kids to go here.
So they need that.
Right.
They need the interaction, other than what they only get in the classroom.
Yeah, I think so too.
I think that the perfect thing to give needles High School would be a new student entertainment lounge that's filled with areas where they can sit and socialize.
And they don't have that right now, and I think that would make a lot of the students a lot happier.
- Gonna put up my friend.
- Right on.
Perfect.
Football team comes down that ramp, they'll tap on this for good luck every time they walk by it.
It'll mean a lot to a lot of people.
Well, it's the symbol of your school, man.
I mean, you saved it, and it's kind of what we're doing here at the vo-tech building too, you know.
We're saving it.
Yeah.
So it's perfectly symbolic.
I'm hoping from now on that people walk by it and tap on it, slap it, kiss it, maybe.
Blue pride.
Blue pride.
- Because this town, we are so tight-knit.
Being a mustang is what keeps us all together.
All right, guys, let's get plantin'.
It's day six.
A little bit of landscaping to go, and home depot is really helping us out.
What you're gonna want to do is you're gonna want to dig twice as deep and twice as wide as the bucket.
Like, what you've got right there is perfect.
When you get your soil you're gonna mix your soil 50/50 to the soil that's in the ground.
Here in this climate, it's not so good to spray the entire plant during the summer.
So we're just gonna spray right around the roots.
It's day six.
Reveal is tomorrow morning.
And we have the big football game that's happening, so we asked the students and the teachers to leave.
We sent them away to prepare for the big football game [whistles blow.]
We still have a lot to do, but I'm feeling pretty confident that we can get it down.
This one will be over here.
Tomorrow's the big day.
Everything is looking great.
And then I look up and I see a giant sandstorm, and it's coming right at us.
Hey, Jacob, this is Tom.
Go ahead, Tom.
Yeah, we got trouble, man.
There's a big storm coming.
Tom, help these guys clean this stuff up.
We've got trees broken.
Garage door's blowing in.
The snack shack's all blown to pieces.
We've got trash everywhere.
18 hours to go, man.
We got a lot of damage.
The sandstorm hits us This is not good.
There is stuff everywhere.
All I could think of We have 18 hours to go, and now this? Jacob.
Go ahead, Tom.
I'm walking through the library quad.
It's a mess, man.
- Copy.
- It's not safe like this.
Get some more volunteers down here, and let's get this thing cleaned up.
I'm gonna get on it right now.
Okay.
The storm came in the 11th hour.
We had to call back landscapers, painters, and just general cleanup crews.
We need help, and we need help now.
That dust storm That's the first time I've been in a dust storm like that.
I mean, it destroyed things, but thank goodness this community came together, and that's why we got this school finished.
- Yeah.
- Ten seconds! All: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[Cheering.]
Nice job, guys.
Nice job.
Literally half of this city came out this week to volunteer on this project.
2,500 people.
That's extraordinary.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
It's time to show this community what they have done to their own school.
And it is time to give it back to them.
[Cheers and applause.]
Oh, my God, this is happening right now.
And it's one of those things that you think never happens to people like you It's amazing.
I'm on pins and needles.
I have butterflies in my stomach.
I can't wait to see what everybody's hard work produced.
All: needles mustangs I'm excited.
[Cheering.]
Oh, my gosh, look at that! [Cheers and applause.]
I could see all the new landscaping up front.
And I saw the school pride team standing there, huge red ribbon.
Everyone on the bus had smiles ear to ear.
[Shouting and cheering.]
Welcome back, needles High School! Welcome back! [Cheers and applause.]
Seven days ago, we came together and we said we, the community, can rebuild and renovate this school, and you did it.
Dakota and Andrew, this journey began with the two of you, so I think that you should have the honor of cutting the ribbon.
[Cheers and applause.]
All: 3, 2, 1.
[Cheers and applause.]
Welcome to your new quad! Yeah! Oh, my God.
It's kind of breathtaking.
I get to go to this school and, I mean, this looks like a college campus.
Seeing it now with tables, chairs Citrus trees on top of that.
I mean, it's gonna be a hot spot now, needles High School.
I'm standing in the middle of the auto shop.
I can hear everybody cheering and hollering.
I can't wait to see Mr.
ward's reaction.
[Whistles.]
Oh, my God! Yeah! Welcome to your new auto shop! They opened them doors to that shop, and my eyes got as big as silver dollars.
I couldn't recognize the place when I walked in the door.
The colors, the shelving, the equipment, the toolboxes.
Every step I take I'm taking into another realm of new.
Onstar provides diagnostic checks for all of their subscribers every day.
And that's why they donated all of this state-of-the-art equipment for your auto shop.
And to make your learning experience even better, they donated a 2010 camaro! [Cheers and applause.]
Awesome! Pop that hood, Mr.
ward.
These kids are gonna enjoy working on this.
- How do you like it, ward? - I'm in awe.
And then they started showing me all the new equipment that goes with that car.
The new onstar test equipment.
The new electronics test equipment.
And I'm going, "wow.
"These kids are as excited to work on this vehicle as I am.
" I'm in awe.
I just cannot believe it.
And I can't wait for school to start.
[Cheers and applause.]
Standing in front of that door, my heart's pounding out of my chest.
I'm surprised I didn't have to hold it in there.
If you looked at those shops before, they're dirty, they have holes in the walls, they're missing windows.
I'm, like, "oh, my God, can you believe this is happening?" OhYeah! [laughter.]
It's like a whole different room.
Oh, my God! I have insulation.
There's no open windows.
There's actually room in here, dude.
I know.
There's actually shelves and stuff.
I think my class is gonna have a lot more students enrolled in it.
Because now we have all these tools, and there's a lot more things we can do.
What are you gonna do with all this technology? As much as I can, I guess.
If you can engage those kids, especially in the shop classes, you'll have 'em for life.
It's gonna be amazing.
- That was great.
- Oh, my God, baby! Come in! Come in! Come in! Welcome to the microsoft entertainment lounge! [Cheering.]
Oh, my God.
I've been teaching for four years, and it was very moving to me just to see what you can do in such a short time.
And just knowing that these kids deserve it.
Oh, God, this is beautiful.
I can't believe it.
We can make a difference in our children's lives.
What do you think? Is this cool? It's amazing.
I was not expecting it at all.
It's amazing to see the transformation happen with Dakota, you know.
I mean, she just lit up.
She was just so energetic.
She was a different Dakota than what I saw when I first got to needles.
Dude, no friggin' way! Susie did amazing with the student lounge.
I never would have expected that to be here at needles High School.
It means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to everybody else.
Well, to make the day even cooler for you guys, I wanted to show you these new hp touchsmart pcs.
And they are totally equipped with windows 7 and windows live messenger.
And, basically, it allows you to have all your social networking sites on one page.
So you only have to go to one place to get all the updates.
Is there a place where you want to - I'm staying.
- Yes? - I'm staying.
- You're gonna stay? Yay! Seeing how many people came out here to help, it just brought me closer to everybody and to the school.
I think back to, like, why did I ever want to leave? Hi! Welcome to your new snack shack! [Cheering.]
Walmart donated all this fresh produce that you see and the citrus trees in the quad! [Cheers and applause.]
Yay! Let's have smoothies! [Cheers and applause.]
When those football games are packed with screaming fans, they have a place to go enjoy themselves at the snack shack.
Get whatever you want.
We have it all.
I think whitley did pretty good this time.
Aah, Andrew! What you think? What you think? Great.
The snack bar's off the charts.
And I'm pretty excited to play on a new football field.
It feels great to have a redone field and a new scoreboard.
I mean, the grand opening of our school, we gotta win.
After the reveal, it's time for the big football game.
And I can't wait to see the blue and white of those mustangs come marching down that ramp.
Let's go, mustangs! [Cheers and applause.]
Start us off right right now here we go.
[Cheers and applause.]
[All cheering.]
All: Defense! Defense! I love this school, and I'm really hoping that people who come here now will have no reason to say anything bad about needles, or they don't need to drive up the hill and see a white, rusted building.
They're gonna see a white and blue, well-maintained, beautiful-looking school.
[Calling signals.]
Outside 22! Outside contain! Outside contain! [Whistle blows.]
Oh, we had him.
Shoot! Get it back.
What I've learned about a community of 5,000 people is that you have to stick together.
All: Needles mustangs! Needles mustangs! - This is a tight-knit community.
Everyone helps each other.
Here they go! Here they go! - HeyEnd over wing left, 27-r Jack on one.
Break.
- Come on, Andrew! - Yeah! Do what I told you! Ready! Go! [Cheers and applause.]
Run it in! Go for the two points! Understand that? All: Yes, sir! Show 'em what you're all about let's go, light six! Hey, it's all or nothing, baby, it's all or nothing.
- Come on, blue! - Ready Go! Whoo! Touchdown! [Cheers and applause.]
Good job! Good job, mustangs! Good work, mustangs.
Way to fight.
Way to fight! That was a great ending to a wonderful week.
I've learned that our community is full of a lot of really hard-working, caring people.
And as much as I thought I loved this place, I think I love it even more than I knew.
What I hope people get out of this is they realize how tight-knit our community is, and how dedicated they were.
And to be a part of that, I know that's something I'll never forget.
- Hey, have a good season, man.
- All right.
Thanks for coming down.
It means a lot to us.
Enjoy your new school.
This was the perfect ending to the perfect week To see this school transformed and to see this football team go out there in front of their whole community and get the "w.
" If you want to see school pride, go to a needles football game.
That is school pride.
Academically, it's really helped our kids tremendously.
Classes are fuller.
I think the kids are more interested in being in class.
They have something to come to, and they're enjoying that.
I think that it's a tremendous help to them.