On certain nights, the corner of Penn and Atlantic avenues becomes the place to be in the Penn Avenue Corridor.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Tenth-grader Angel Coffee, 15, looks through one of her notebooks at her locker at the Neighborhood Academy in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh. The students paint their lockers to personalize them. Click photo for larger image.

Those are the nights that the parking lot across the street from the intersection is packed, and parents from the neighborhood and elsewhere gather for basketball games and school plays presented by the Neighborhood Academy, a three-year-old private high school.

The school, at 5231 Penn Ave., was founded in September 2001. Its co-founders, Jodie Moore and Tom Johnson, describe it as a faith-based, independent college-prep school for low-income youth. There are 72 students in grades 8 through 12.

"Our mission is to serve that group of low-income youth who are failing in the public system. Our intent is to supplement what the public system does and work with children who thrive in a small classroom and an intimate, rigorous environment," Moore said. "The end game for us is college. We're definitely a college-preparatory school."

Both Moore and Johnson want the school to play a big role in the revitalization of the neighborhood.

"We wanted to be someplace where the school could be a catalyst for the community's development, where there was the hustle and bustle of traffic and activity, a kind of daily marketplace happening," Moore said. "We've seen this area rejuvenate just since we've been here."

Students who enroll at the school will find 12-hour sessions that don't end until 7:30 p.m., and a six-week mandatory summer program as well.

But the rigors don't translate into a dislike for attending the school, Moore insists. "This is the only school I know of where whenever there's a snow holiday, the kids still show up because it's a safe environment," Moore said.