Crosstown High School lands surprise $2.5 million grant

The high school that will open next year inside Crosstown Concourse won a surprise $2.5 million grant as part of an initiative to redesign high schools in the U.S.

The school will also be featured on an hour-long special surrounding the idea of rethinking high school that will air on the four major broadcast networks Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.

Crosstown High was one of 50 finalists last year for 10 grants worth $10 million each through the XQ Super School Project. The school didn't win one of the top prizes, but XQ leaders kept in touch and regularly asked for updates on the school's progress, Crosstown Director of Strategic Partnerships and Programs Ginger Spickler said.

Late this spring, Spickler said, XQ, which is backed by the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, sent a camera crew to Memphis and revealed the award to a group of the school's leaders and board members.

"We were absolutely, totally floored," Spickler said.

But the biggest reward from the XQ contest, she said, was not the prize money at the end but the application process that forced them to rethink what the school inside Crosstown Concourse should be like.

The process required them to interview students, families and educators, and Crosstown ended up speaking to 200 students and educators from 13 area schools. 

By the end of the application process, the school was committed to a non-traditional high school format. 

"Honestly when we did not get one of the final rewards last year, it was not incredibly disappointing because we knew the process had gotten us to such a different place for a school at Crosstown," Spickler said.

The school will feature combined class periods will group together, for example, math and science. Learning will be based heavily on projects and partnerships with outside organizations.

The school's executive director, Chris Terrill, said the money stemmed from a "grassroots effort led by people in Memphis," and that the money won't change that.

"There were really no strings attached other than being creative and pushing the envelope and rethinking what high school can and should look like," Terrill said. 

Many of the other finalists, Terrill said, were relying on the grant money to start their schools. Crosstown was moving forward either way, which the committee recognized and rewarded, he said.

Crosstown High is set to open next fall with 125 to 150 students in the ninth grade. Students interested will fill out an application, which will be available next month, and then the school will use a lottery system to fill the slots. 

Terrill said the money will be used to advance partnerships with the other occupants of Crosstown, the million-square-foot Midtown building set for its grand opening this weekend. 

The grant also makes Crosstown High part of a national network of XQ schools, allowing for further partnerships and innovation.

"I think our goal is to make high school more relevant to students than maybe has ever been done in the past," Terrill said.

Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.