The two GIS teachers, Ann Thompson and Rita Hagevik, contacted Dr. Marsha Alibrandi, a North Carolina State University professor, seeking ideas for an interdisciplinary project that would incorporate GIS. The teachers had offered several semesters of a GIS elective in their Gifted and Talented Magnet Middle School in technology/science education, and were looking for ways to extend the application of GIS to an interdisciplinary project. Dr. Alibrandi posed the question, "Well, what would you like to do?" Thompson revealed her deep interest in reconstructing an archive from Ligon High School. She explained that the records and archives of the original J. W. Ligon High School had been lost and/or destroyed, as had the records of most Historically Black High Schools upon federal desegregation orders, and that expanding the database project to a web archive was a goal. We concluded that GIS could be a key element of this project.

With a vision for the project the team began to articulate its goals as they developed grant proposals. With two grants; one from a county educational partnership, Wake Education Partnership.  and one from university extension funding, the partnership project began. LHS Alumni, teachers, and university professors met to plan their joint activities, interviews and project strategies. Along the way, three more teachers and two more professors joined the collaborative project. The professors planned university classes so that graduate students and preservice teachers would earn credit for participation in various aspects of the project. Additional partners from an Historically Black College and other civic groups became involved as the project's interdisciplinary components reached out into the community.