You've got to love Brian Repola's attitude. Faced with a long waiting list of prospective students, the executive director of the Pueblo School for Arts and Sciences made the bold decision to add another campus. But not just anywhere: Repola and his staff chose to put the new campus in Salt Creek, a small community on the eastern edge of the city limits that hasn't had a school of its own in three decades.

"Why Salt Creek?" Repola asked rhetorically at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new campus. "Why this school building? My answer is, 'Why not?' Why shouldn't this school be open again? Why shouldn't students in this neighborhood and throughout Pueblo have another choice?"

Why not, indeed. The new school is located in the long-abandoned Fulton Heights Elementary School, which was refurbished with grants, financial donations and in-kind contributions from throughout the Pueblo area. Repola said Salt Creek neighborhood residents have even gotten into the act -- weeding, sweeping and picking up trash around the school grounds in preparation for the first day of classes Aug. 14.

At the new campus, which initially will serve students in kindergarten through fifth grade, teachers will offer a curriculum that includes emphasis on the so-called STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) as well as hands-on practical experience.

For example, instead of simply learning about science and engineering concepts in the classroom, fourth graders will get the opportunity to build their own pinball machines out of cardboard, wiring and magnets.

"It's about problem solving," Repola said. "It's about design. It's about giving kids the tools they need to be successful."

About 175 students are expected in the initial class at Fulton Heights, a number that's expected to increase to 225 when the campus is expanded to a kindergarten through eighth grade facility next year. Repola couldn't have found a better choice to lead the new school than Anthony Martinez, a veteran educator who was a second grader at Fulton Heights Elementary when it closed in the early 1980s.

Martinez not only works in the community, but he lives there on property that was the site of his childhood home.

"Salt Creek has always been my home," Martinez said. "I believe having a school in a community helps that community thrive."

Here's hoping that the new school does become a rallying point for the community. And best of luck to Pueblo School for the Arts and Sciences in its expansion efforts, which may soon include a kindergarten through 12th grade school in Pueblo West.