The roof leaked year round, edges of metal jutted from the aging lockers and the decrepit heating system forced most of the students to wear winter coats throughout the school day.

These are just small depictions of what students at Communication and Media Arts High School in Detroit were going through, said the school's principal, Donya Odom.

"Students kept lots of paper towels handy to keep the windows from dripping on them and distracting them from their work," she said. "But despite it all we still succeeded."

Succeeded, Odom said, thanks to the new television show on NBC called School Pride -- created by the same people who produced Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Executive producer Denise Cramsey said the CMA school was selected for renovation and featured in Friday's episode for two reasons. First, the school has tremendous community support. Second, the building was in jeopardy of being shut down entirely because the school district could not afford the repairs.

"What this show did for CMA was like a heart transplant," Odom said. "Without revealing too much of the show, I can tell you it was more than just a coat of paint. When the kids walked through the door they were overwhelmed, it was like Christmas Day for them. These upgrades will keep us off the shut-down list."

Students, parents and teachers have been fighting a three-year battle to salvage CMA because the school is renowned for its achievements and exceptional graduation rate.

"It's an amazing school that had saved themselves from the cut list twice before we came to help," Cramsey said. "And from there the community came together with us and saved themselves for the last time."

And once the school was saved from the chopping block, School Pride was in search of a special celebratory field trip.

For Detroit students, one might guess a basketball or football game, something close to the city. Not the case. Busloads of CMA students took a road trip to the Irish Hills, home of NASCAR's Michigan International Speedway.

Longtime track sponsor Chevrolet treated the students to high-speed thrill rides in new Camaros and speedway president Roger Curtis greeted the group to offer words of encouragement and motivation.

NASCAR fans everywhere will be able to watch their adventures Friday when School Pride airs at 8 p.m. ET.

"It was a lot of fun hosting the show here," Curtis said. "The students that were able to visit with us were tremendous individuals who truly cared about their school and did show great pride in wanting to make it a much improved place for them to learn. We were happy to have them here and I hope they enjoyed their visit to MIS."

The trip exposed the Detroit high school students to an arena they might not otherwise ever experience, Odom said.

"Let's be honest, NASCAR is not a big market for inner city youth they don't look at those options but the NASCAR experience just gave our kids another option of what they can do in life and that track is outstanding. Everyone was overwhelmed."

Cramsey selected the Michigan race track for its visual impact and brought more cameras to shoot vantage points there than back at the school where the massive renovations took place.

And for those renovations, School Pride -- like NASCAR -- depends on sponsors, both product- and service-related. But the lion's share of the renovation budget comes from public donations.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.