Fame gives celebrities plenty of ways to give back. Some write checks or lend their names to a gala. The stars here did something harder. They helped open real schools, with classrooms, teachers and lesson plans, for children who often had the fewest options. Several put them in the neighborhoods where they grew up. Others built them in places they cared about deeply. From Miami to Akron to South Africa, these schools have taught many students and sent graduates off to college.
Pitbull: Pitbull helped launch a sports-themed charter school in Little Havana
In 2013 Pitbull helped launch Sports Leadership and Management, known as SLAM, a tuition-free public charter school in Little Havana, the Miami neighborhood where he grew up. The nonprofit Mater Academy runs it. Pitbull endorsed the school, helped publicize it and invested in its educational programs while it was getting started. SLAM uses sports to keep students interested, with coursework in sports broadcasting, marketing and sports medicine. A partnership with the Miami Marlins provides the athletic side, and students can intern with organizations such as the Marlins and ESPN Deportes starting in 10th grade. The principal at the time said Pitbull was giving back to the community where he grew up. SLAM has since expanded to Las Vegas and Atlanta.
LeBron James: LeBron James opened a public school for struggling kids in Akron
On July 30, 2018, LeBron James celebrated the opening of the I Promise School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. His LeBron James Family Foundation created it in partnership with Akron Public Schools. The first 240 students were third and fourth graders who were one or two years behind in reading. Classes ran from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the school year was longer than usual. The foundation helps provide uniforms, food for families, and bikes and helmets for students. Parents can get help earning a GED and finding work. Akron public school graduates who meet the requirements can attend the University of Akron tuition-free. At the opening, James told the crowd, "I know the streets that they walk."
Oprah Winfrey: Oprah Winfrey opened a leadership academy for girls in South Africa
On January 2, 2007, Oprah Winfrey opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley on Klip, near Johannesburg, South Africa. She got the idea in 2000 while meeting with Nelson Mandela, who attended the opening. The first students were 152 girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. The campus has 28 buildings on 52 acres, with science and computer labs, a library and a theater, and its reported cost was about $40 million. Winfrey said she had grown up poor with her grandmother, without running water or electricity, and that she had visited the girls' homes and knew each of them by name. "Their story is my story," she said. The academy's first class of 72 graduates finished in 2011.
Andre Agassi: Andre Agassi opened a tuition-free charter school in Las Vegas
In 2001, while he was still playing professional tennis, Andre Agassi opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in his hometown of Las Vegas. It is a tuition-free public charter school for at-risk children. Agassi personally donated $35 million to it, and his charitable foundation raised many millions more for children in Southern Nevada. The school started with elementary grades and grew to cover kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2009 its first senior class graduated, and the graduation rate that year was 100 percent. By 2017 the school had about 1,150 students. For Agassi, the school is a long-term commitment to the young people of the city where he grew up.
Shakira: Shakira opened a new school in her hometown of Barranquilla
Shakira started her Pies Descalzos Foundation, also known as the Barefoot Foundation, in 1997. It builds schools and provides education and meals for children in Colombia. In November 2018 she laid the cornerstones for two new schools, one in Cartagena and one in her hometown of Barranquilla. In September 2023 she opened the Barranquilla school in the Nuevo Bosque neighborhood. The building covers more than 6,000 square meters and was expected to serve about 1,000 primary and secondary students each year. The project cost nearly 4 million euros and was built with the Barranquilla mayor's office, the la Caixa Foundation, the FC Barcelona Foundation and the LCI Education Foundation. The building also serves as a community center for the neighborhood.
Jalen Rose: Jalen Rose opened a charter high school in his hometown of Detroit
Former NBA player Jalen Rose grew up in Detroit and played 13 seasons in the league. In fall 2011 he opened the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, an open-enrollment public charter high school in northwest Detroit. He gave a six-figure donation of his own to get it started. The school moved into a former Detroit Public Schools elementary building, and its first class was 120 ninth graders. The goal was to lower dropout rates and raise test scores. The school runs an 11-month year and offers chess, debate, lacrosse and rugby alongside traditional sports. Its first class graduated in June 2015. Rose has said that "the dirty secret in public education is that it's defined by your zip code."
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