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A $13.5 million grant from the Thompson Educational Foundation is rounding out funding for a new science and math-focused high school in Detroit.
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan in September made a $1.5 million grant to New Urban Learning — the nonprofit parent of the new high school — to support the $15 million renovation of the Albert Kahn-designed, former Franklin Furniture warehouse on Franklin Street in Detroit’s Riverfront Development District.
The new University Prep Science and Math High School will be aligned with the University Prep Science and Math Middle School, which moves into its permanent facility at the Detroit Science Center this September.
The new high school is scheduled to open in September 2010 with 108 freshman students. The plan is to add one grade each year, with students in grades 9-12 by 2013. The school will be able to accommodate up to 450 students.
The new school is one of several projects the Community Foundation is supporting through the Detroit Neighborhood Fund, launched in 2007 with $5 million from the New York-based Ford Foundation and $10 million from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek to develop stronger neighborhoods extending north from the Detroit RiverWalk on Detroit's near east side.
The new school “is an important step in building a new neighborhood and stimulating investment along Detroit’s riverfront,” said Community Foundation President Mariam Noland, in a release.
The University Prep Math and Science High School marks the seventh school the Thompson Educational Foundation has constructed or renovated for Detroit students over the past six years.
“We are delighted to contribute to the exciting development of Detroit’s riverfront and in the process help create a world-class high school designed to prepare students for success in the emerging global economy,” said Bob Thompson, founder of the Thompson Educational Foundation, in the release.
The newest school will be 94,000 square feet with a newly constructed fourth floor, for a gym, café, conference room and terrace. Detroit-based GunnLevine Architects are working on the project.
The new high school will be committed to graduating at least 90 percent of its students and sending 90 percent of those to college with ACT scores above the national average of 21, said Superintendent Margaret Trimer-Hartley, in the release.
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