It's a measure of how much the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy means to its eponymous found that it is often the place where he chooses to meet visitors and friends who call on him in Las Vegas. A few weeks ago, it was Justin Gimelstob who got the school tour. Last week it was me.
Andre rolled in through the glass doors and the first thing I noticed, since I hadn't seen him in many months, was how buff he was in the upper body. He was wearing jeans and a tight-fitting, collarless gray shirt, a cross between a sweater and long-sleeved T, open at the neck where he wore a black leather thong with a few beads. I noticed his Pac boots and thought them somewhat odd footwear for Las Vegas (the temperature was in the 60s) - until I realized that the Agassi family (Andre, Steffi, Jaden and Jaz Elle) spend a lot of time snowboarding these days. Andre and his partners in Agassi enterprises are involved in a few big development projects - including the construction of a Fairmont hotel at the central Idaho resort, Tamarack, and a "lifestyle" community in Costa Rica.
After a friendly man-hug, Andre and I sat down in a common area in AP's main lobby, not far from a number of computers set up so that parents, as well as kids, could avail themselves of the resource. The parents of kids who attend Agassi Prep are expected to do volunteer school-related work; they are also encouraged to use the facilities, including an impressive workout room attached to the gym, at the appropriate times. But one thing all of them must do is sign off on homework, and read to and with their kids, who have eight-hour school days.
The physical plant at AP is striking - it's a true "campus" of interconnected buildings clustered around open spaces and a playground. The school now has grades K through 11, with grade 12 to be added next year. The architecture is sleek, contemporary, and functional in the no-frills, immaculate way you would expect of, say, a U.S. Defense Department facility.
This is no coincidence; in addition to demonstrating a high degree of attention to detail at every level in the administration, it also echoes an underlying theme of the school: discipline. The kids at AP wear uniforms (the maroon polo shirt is the trademark) because, as Andre said, "We want them to stand out for their behavior and accomplishments, not for what they wear."
Soon after we sat down,a group of first-graders lined up on the walkway surrounding the lobby. Their teacher firmly reminded a couple of kids: "No hands on the railing now." They then marched off to the computer lab, obedient and silent. Over the next hour, I was struck by the still, peaceful atmosphere in the school.
"When we first opened the school," Andre told me, "We were warned that we would have to deal with vandalism and graffiti, because we're located in a 'bad' neighborhood. But look around. We've had nothing like that. Our attitude was, 'Well, what if we gave them something to take pride in. Actually gave them something nice?' The community protects this place - after all, it's their kids who come here."
Andre ran through the background of the school. It all goes back to a conversation that Perry Rogers, Andre's childhood friend and, now, manager, had with a seat mate on a flight. Rogers was intrigued to learn that his neighbor was in the "charter school" field, and by the time the plane landed Rogers thought it might be something right in Andre's ballpark. The degree to which it was is now manifest.
After having covered Andre through most of his career in tennis, it was both unusual and touching to hear him speak about the school. We all know he is a gifted speaker, but what impressed me the most was his easy grasp of facts and figures pertaining to education in areas as obscure as the details of public funding of charter schools , or statistics on where various states rank in quality of education (Nevada ranks woefully low on a number of fronts). This is no feel-good affiliation, or vanity project; Agassi is, if not exactly an educator, an entrepreneur whose profits are the intellectual capital accumulated by the kids of AP.
We covered the background, then Andre took me on a tour of the school buildings and facilities. Everywhere we went, students recognized Andre. They would wave, shyly, or put their heads together and titter. One little girl volunteered, "My mommy saw you at Starbucks."
"Oh yeah?" Andre replied. "That's a good place to find me."
It was the same with faculty, administrators, and even maintenance personnel. One teacher with whom we stopped to chat gave Andre his personal card and invited him to read his film criticism on-line, suggesting as well that he might want to create a film course. There are, of course, enormous advantages to being a celebrity of Agassi's status. There were the usual displays of student art and such, but a hallway in the upper school also featured a vibrant collection of contemporary art - all high quality work, on loan from a local patron and collector. As we walked through the quiet cafeteria, Andre said, "Vegas has really stepped up its reputation as a city with great food, so we went to the culinary school in town and said, 'Hey, you guys are practicing, and we've got hungry kids. How about practicing on our kids? So they cook lunch every day for our kids."
Like many charismatic and successful people, Andre knows how to ask, and he isn't above or reluctant to do so.
The wall at the entrance to the middle school is decorated with larger-than-life photos of Nelson Mandela, aviator Amelia Earhart, and the Rev.Martin Luther King - each with an appropriate quotation. At one end of the line-up is a much smaller color photo of Andre, sliding into a shot on the red clay of Roland Garros.
"One of the few fights Perry and I got into was over that picture," Andre said. "He wanted me on the wall, and I said, 'Yeah, right - me, right next to Nelson Mandela'. But Perry insisted that the school with my name ought to be associated with a face and an idea - that people ought to know that difference-making people are real, and while the kids would never got to meet Earhardt or Dr. King, they could see me, right there among them. So I relented."
The quote Andre chose is the one attributed to Winston Churchill, and it was, fittingly enough, part of a commencement address: Never, ever give in. Never give in. Never give in.
We finished our tour on the roof of the high school, where Andre proudly pointed out a bridge leading across to the roof of the new gym. The bridge is made of steel, concrete and plexiglass. When the first group of K-12 kids graduates from AP (May of 2009), Andre told me, the rest of the school will be assembled in the quad below. They will look up and watch as the graduates, one by one, walk across the bridge, find their names on stickers on the plexiglass panels, and peel them off.
After crossing the bridge, they'll enter a room where they will write what words of advice or inspiration they have for those who will follow. I got the feeling that there will be a buff, bald, bandy-legged former tennis pro down among all those yearning and impressionable underclassmen.
