The 116 million dollars, 420,000-sq-ft Atrisco Heritage Academy High School rising in southwest Albuquerque is not only a step beyond most school designs but carries enough challenges and dreams for a TV soap opera. Challenges at the public high school have included steel delays, asphalt rationing, modification of initial designs from a single phase to three phases and a construction schedule that proved overly rigorous. Dreams include creation of an unusually well-equipped school housed in three buildings intended to resemble a college campus. Erected in a relatively poor area economically, the school would function to raise student expectations from minimum-wage jobs to professional careers. The buildings would also serve as a dual-use facility for the surrounding community in providing gym access, a health facility and library, and computer and Internet access.
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