Agassi devoting his life to educating deprived kids

New York, Nov.9 (ANI): With help from an annual gala in Las Vegas, former tennis great Andre Agassi is using his foundation to educate underprivileged kids.

The foundation has raised 140 million dollars so far, and Agassi has personally donated millions. His real passion is Agassi Prep, which he built in one of Las Vegas' worst neighborhoods.

He dropped out in ninth grade, but is now devoting his life to educating kids.

"It's my life's work. And you could say maybe because of my lack of education, I feel the void of it," CBS quoted him, as saying.

He wants to make sure other kids don't. The 623 students are chosen by lottery, and there's a waiting list of over 800. A charter school, Agassi Prep emphasizes academics. Both parents and students must sign a commitment to excellence. And the goal is college, from the very start.

The first class of seniors graduated last June. And everyone headed to college.

At the school's graduation, Agassi said, "Some people told us we were getting carried away with our imagination that we idealized you and now you've grown up to exceed our imagination and our ideals. Finally I want to say one last thing, something I've wanted to say for a very long time: 'class dismissed,'" he told the grads. (ANI)