This remarkable, first-hand account reveals the impediments and challenges to educating inner-city secondary students when so much is arrayed against them and how believing in all kids helped save a school and change education in the state of Colorado. In 2 years, Principal Scott Mendelsberg took his school from a 17% to a 73% college matriculation rate. He didn’t get new teachers, a new building, different kids, or a new curriculum. He just made sure students realised that college was an option for them.