Dr. Dre, Compton leaders celebrate grand opening of new high school and performing arts center

COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) -- Compton officially has a new high school with some major star power behind it.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Thursday for the grand opening of a $200 million campus for Compton High School.

The event featured an appearance by hip-hop mogul and Compton native Dr. Dre, who donated $10 million for a performing arts center.

"The new Compton High School and Performing Arts Center is a world class educational facility that is poised to become the center for innovation and creativity, bringing this life, this thing that we dreamed about, to a reality for all the students in this city," he said.

The new 31-acre campus for the nearly 120-year-old school will serve more than 1,800 students and feature a 140,639-square-foot academic building, a 36,534-square-foot gymnasium, a half-size Olympic pool and enhanced landscaping with California native plants, officials said.

The project was funded through the district's bond measure approved in 2015.

The city broke ground on the school three years ago.

"It absolutely takes my breath away," said Compton High Principal Larry Natividad. "It shows the love and the care that the architects, and the great city of Compton, provided."

Inside, the entire school is wired to be high tech.

"All the classrooms have connectivity to internet, so they can do like online learning through all the spaces," said Alenoush Aghajanians, the lead designer of the school. "There is a lot of interconnectivity from the performing arts center. When they perform on the stage, they can record it from any of the recording studios in the building."

Compton officials said given that the graduation rate at Compton High stands at an impressive 95% - and climbing - a new school simply compliments the academic success of the students.

The new campus opens in August.

City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.