NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. -- DC Virgo Preparatory Academy started school on Wednesday as the first kindergarten through eighth grade lab school in the state.

• North Carolina lawmakers set aside money in their 2016 budget for this school and others like it, to help schools struggling with both low enrollment and low grades
• With the help of New Hanover County Schools, UNC Wilmington will operate the school similar to a charter school
• The partnership between the university and New Hanover County will last for five years and at least seven other schools in the UNC system are planning to setup the same type of lab school

North Carolina lawmakers set aside money in their 2016 budget for this school and others like it, to help schools struggling with both low enrollment and low grades.

With the help of New Hanover County Schools, UNC Wilmington will operate the school similar to a charter school.

Those with UNCW say it provides a unique model to both shape the classroom, but also train a new wave of educators.

"All invested in trying to create an educational experience where we think about the whole child, and we think about all the needs of the child and how to create success and opportunity," said Van Dempsey, Watson College of Education at UNC Wilmington dean.

The partnership between the university and New Hanover County will last for five years and at least seven other schools in the UNC system are planning to setup the same type of lab school.