Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Division honors tennis champion Andre Agassi and his foundation for education for working to transform public education.

In 1994, Las Vegas native and tennis champion Andre Agassi created the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education. Although he is a gifted athlete, Mr. Agassi felt his formal education was lacking. Through the foundation, Mr. Agassi works to help children who do not have the luxury of falling back on a sport to be successful.

Through its public charter school, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, the foundation strives to provide at-risk youth with a quality K-12 education. In 2001, with the help of generous donors and in partnership with the Clark County School District, the award-winning campus opened to host three schools—elementary, middle, and high school—in the heart of one of the city’s most underserved and economically challenged neighborhoods. Students who live within a two-mile radius are accepted through a lottery. In 2009, the first graduating class had a 100 percent graduation rate.

Since the foundation’s inception, the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education has raised more than $175 million for the school in Las Vegas and for education initiatives nationwide.