Students at Palo Verde Magnet High School threw open the doors to reveal their newly redecorated and furnished Cyber Cafe on Saturday, September 8. Notable attendees joining the Titan community included Superintendent of Tucson Unified School District John Pedicone, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Leadership Abel Morado, Chief Operations Officer Candy Egbert, Palo Verde Principal Janna Acevedo as well as other faculty members and students. The road to this open house began when Palo Verde applied for the 2012 Bookmans School Challenge.

The dream to turn the space into a functional and fun place for students to do school work, hang out or host study groups was spearheaded by their passionate principal. "I want people and students to realize when you have a dream and hold on and persevere it does come true," says Acevedo. In the midst of the frivolity students and teachers played games, lounged in new chairs and admired the art work of their fellow students. Teams from Bookmans and Palo Verde collaborated on a design for the space where we wanted to keep a youthful modern feel that students could embrace and start to feel prepared for college life. That's why we used pops of their school colors and stainless steel finishes.

Enthusiastic student Cindi Bailey says, "This is the first school I've seen with a cyber cafe. It's really nice to come down and work on projects. I love it! Coming from a turnaround school to this is nice." She wasn't the only student excited about making the space their own. The room functions as more than a cyber cafe for students, it also acts as a meeting place for faculty meetings, classroom study sessions and with the hope of becoming a space where community members can meet. Take a look at the open house and find more pictures of the space check on our Flickr feed.

We knew this school was special when they were voted into the top ten of the 2012 Bookmans School Challenge. We also knew we could help them even though they didn't make it in to the top three. You can see how passionate Titans are about their school in their video. See what else the Palo Verde Titans are doing by following @pvtitans on Twitter.

The start of the 2013 Bookmans School Challenge is around the corner. We will accept online applications starting October 1, 2012. To watch a video about our second annual challenge or see the other top ten finalists' video submissions visit our channel on YouTube.