In 2003, leaders at the School District of Philadelphia, district CEO Paul Vallas and chairman of the School Reform Commission James Nevels, enlisted the help of the Microsoft Corporation in a bold effort: reshape the archaic 19th-century high school model to better prepare students, especially urban students, to live and work in the 21st century. Three years later, they opened a sleek, eco-friendly, technologically advanced $62 million building in west Philadelphia bounded by a vast urban park, the city's historic zoo, and some of the most blighted streets in the city. It was called School of the Future (SOF). In this article, the author describes how the school and its curriculum were developed. Despite the school's rocky start, the author stresses that students at SOF have done remarkable things.