Hundreds of volunteers from as far as China and as close as across the street gathered Thursday to help restore a school that has, at various times in its storied history, been deemed the city's best and its worst.

This time, as they were reminded throughout the day, the 'bolts - the Manual High School Thunderbolts - are back.

"As former head boy at Manual, I think I have the authority to anoint you all honorary Thunderbolts," Denver City Council President Michael Hancock told the more than 600 volunteers clad in corporate T-shirts as the day began before 8 a.m.

"But I have to warn you: Once a Thunderbolt, always a Thunderbolt," he said to claps and cheers. "The Thunderbolts are about to rise again."

By day's end at 3 p.m. - though a stalwart few continued - classrooms, halls and offices were gleaming with a fresh coat of Vanilla Bean.

Outside, a large, open courtyard was landscaped with new trees and set with picnic tables and umbrellas in the Manual colors of blue and red.

In the national spotlight

"I never thought this much work could possibly be done," Rob Stein, the Manual alum who is the school's new principal, said while leaning on a push broom. "Thank you so much."

The school has had a history of ups and downs in its 113 years at the corner of 28th Avenue and Franklin Street in northeast Denver. But in February 2006, after years of declining enrollment and poor performance, Denver Public Schools board members voted to close it for a year.

That decision - and DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet's subsequent campaign to keep Manual kids in other schools - drew the attention of The New Yorker and Business Week magazines and has made the school a national symbol of high school reform efforts.

Thursday, as volunteers scraped and painted, dug and planted, swept and raked, a crew from Good Morning America documented the effort. The TV show will broadcast periodic reports throughout the year, said DPS spokesman Alex Sanchez.

The attention has been beneficial, in that all 180 seats in the new Manual are filled for fall. But it's been a bit nerve-wracking for the new staff. John Goe, who is among a dozen new teachers at the school, called being under the microscope "a little daunting."

But Thursday, as volunteers from around the world worked alongside them, new Manual teachers said they are eager to begin the school year.

"This just feels good," said social studies teacher Nicole Frazier.

An international presence

Denver-based ProLogis, which owns and manages industrial real estate, was responsible for the international presence, with 350 employees from Asia, Europe and North America in town to do community service. A hundred area Home Depot workers also came.

Many of the other volunteers were future and former Manual students, including Michael Simmons, Class of '68 and Vickie Harvey, Class of '73.

Simmons' son will attend the new Manual when classes begin Aug. 20. Harvey, on the other hand, had chosen East High when it came time for her two boys to start high school. Manual was in decline when they entered high school, she said. It also was embarking on an experiment to divide the school into three small programs.

"I said, 'I'm sorry. I won't guinea pig my sons,' " Harvey recalled. "It was just so disturbing when it closed. I felt partly responsible because I said no, you can't have my sons." Now she's hopeful that her grandchildren will attend her alma mater.

"It was like a family," Harvey said. "I wouldn't be who I am today without Manual."

mitchelln@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5245