Delaware Design-Lab High School awarded $10M

NEWARK, Del. (WPVI) -- Delaware Design-Lab High School is one of the most unique charter schools in the nation.

300 students attend, mostly from the Newark area; they are from all walks of life, from high-income to homeless.

All were chosen after interviews to assess their motivation and thirst for learning.

"This is a high school for kids who actually want to go somewhere in their future," junior Sydney MacMilan said.

The school has just been awarded a $10-million to help rethink American high schools by the XQ Institute which is chaired by the widow of Apple computer creator Steve Jobs.

The co-founder of the Newark high school describes their teaching approach as a design thinking process.

"We decided to use what's called the design thinking process, that's being used in businesses more and more, where they learn how to identify a problem, how to generate lots of possible solutions," Martin Rayala said.

Design Lab High School, now in its second year of operation, is one of only ten schools across the nation getting this $10-million grant. 700 schools applied.

Like the others schools that stretch from Washington, D.C. to Oakland, California, this school will be under a microscope as experts assess how all the innovative experiments pan out.

"It's really hands on. It's really visual and you can really learn from that," junior Jay Gonzalez said.

Design Lab charter is funded by the state government.

The nine other schools getting the $10-million award are split between charter and traditional public schools.