calendar year.. 1970s In 1971 the school adopted the name 'Lázaro Cárdenas', after the former Mexican president famous for, amongst other measures, the nationalization of the oil industry and largely improving and expanding education throughout the country, who had died on October 19, 1970. In 1972 major changes set educational standards such as: Plan of study of 6 semesters Morning schedule of classes Pioneering the specialized skills programs in ten different professional areas. Federalization decree 'Sure, from this moment this is a federalized High School!' was the response given by the President of Mexico, Luis Echeverria Alvarez, to the pledge posed to him with a blanket by a large crowd of students on the night of December 2, 1973, at the school's 'Salvador Allende' Civic Plaza. With the arrival of Professor Jesús Ruiz Barraza, a series of measures were taken which transformed the school from a small provincial one to a large high school . In 1972, within the context of educational reform set forth by president Echeverria's government, the school was incorporated into the 'National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education' classification (ANUIES), abandoning the two-year plan in use since 1946, and supplying a three-year high school education program providing real job training in various professional specialties. Before 1972, classes were only held in the evening in limited-space premises known as High School 19. Due to the constantly growing demand of students seeking high school education, Barraza pointed to the need to hold classes during the morning hours. With limited resources additional classrooms were built, allowing enrollment to increase to just over 1,000 secondary education students. President Echeverría granted the request and, in May 1972, a group of students invited the president, while visiting the city, to see the school's facilities. Students and campus leaders were asking for laboratories, classrooms and sports fields and, most importantly the federalization of the school; President Echeverria fulfilled the request, and awarded two million pesos for the construction of an all-new building. From then onwards the school ceased to be funded by its students, and joined the federation. During another visit to Tijuana on 2 December 1973, President Echeverria inaugurated the new facilities and publicly declared the official federalization of the school. From that point, the school became a member institution of the Federal Education System thus receiving federal financial funding for its operations, staff, maintenance and expansion of facilities. The