Andre's Blog 

Stefanie and I wish you and your family a happy and healthy new year. We hit the ground running in our efforts to give young people hope and a brighter future through education.

As we look back, this has been an exceptional and exciting time here at the Agassi Foundation for Education. At our recent Grand Slam for Children on October 29th, people came from Las Vegas and around the world to be entertained by the world's greatest talent and to celebrate the thousands of young lives that have been transformed throughout our 16 Grand Slam events.

The generosity on display that evening was breathtaking and humbling. The results of the monumental night give us the confidence that Agassi Prep will continue to thrive far into the future. Looking forward, with your continued support, our mission to provide a world class education for children in need will also continue to grow and thrive.

Our school, Agassi Prep, almost doubled our enrollment this year, and enrolled more kids off the waiting list and into our classrooms. And with our trips to the State Capitol we were able to create new laws that allowed us to provide a preference to enroll only the neediest students whose families live close to our campus.

Our mission is to spark education reform in all of America, but we believe that the needs are greatest for those living in distress and poverty. The Agassi Foundation will continue to use our growing platform and resources to advocate for underprivileged children in Las Vegas and across the country. With you alongside us, standing shoulder to shoulder, we will be relentless in our work for under served children, in 2012 and beyond.

What a July for my family and me. This year a caravan of friends and family headed east to Newport, Rhode Island to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It seems that half the tennis world got the memo too. It was a whirlwind of official lunches, informal dinners, lots of mingling with the tennis community, interviews, and some overdue catching up with long time friends. All leading up to the actual induction ceremony, which was a life altering experience.

The Hall of Fame ceremony deserves it's high decorum and tradition, all of which I felt honored to be part of, but spending time with the people, sharing stories, exchanging experiences, that is what made it so beautiful for me. All my former coaches were there, and they revived a string of memories, from being a teenager to becoming the old man of tennis. I am so proud of Simone Ruffin, one of the first graduating seniors from Agassi Prep, who introduced me. Her poise and bubbly spirit never gave away the fact that she was being seen on international television. I was nothing but smiles when they surprised me by having A J Green, also one of our graduates, sing the National Anthem. Also what an honor to go into the hall with my fellow inductee, Peachy Kellmeyer, who has been a behind the scenes champion for women's tennis for decades. The year of me and Peachy, I wouldn't have it any other way.

It was a surreal weekend with lots of laughs, like watching the venerable Bud Collins, racing around town on a scooter, to the intimate times, huddling with my closest circle of friends late at night, every night at the hotel, trying to get our arms around moments like these in life.

I look back now and ask, what is it that makes an experience have lasting meaning? What do we really need to make us feel fulfilled? What life force do we draw on, when we need to push through a challenge? I find, it is always the people that make a thing special, it's 'our people' that empower us.

Our greatest investment, is to build, layer upon layer, trust, loyalty, memories, counsel, and laughter with the ones we love.

I’m looking at the calendar for the next few weeks and I thought I’d give you all an update and share a few thoughts.
   
This year, I think Memorial Day has a special significance. Let’s remember and celebrate the bravery of all who have protected our freedom through the years.

Our personal calendar has our family hitting the road at the end of this month for some great events in Europe. I will join our Foundation’s fantastic partner, Longines, for an appearance at the French Open on June 4th. Then it’s on to Prague, where Stefanie and I will dust off our rackets for a mixed doubles match on the 7th. I’ll let her do all the running.

One other milestone is racing toward us. The third senior class at Agassi Prep will graduate on June 11th. Wow, our roots grow deeper and so many lives are touched each year. This year we are so fortunate to have Billie Jean King give our commencement address, I know it will be something that our students will never forget. I’m so proud of our teachers, staff and students for embracing such high standards. You make us proud.

The debate over education reform in America comes in many shapes and sizes. In some places it is deafening, and looks more like a public brawl. But real reform is already happening, quietly, and with little fanfare. Those making great progress in reform may not always make headlines, but they deserve our recognition. Alma Powell, Colin Powell's wife, is the Chair of America's Promise Alliance, they work with over four hundred national affiliates to improve education and lower the high school dropout rate. The respected Fordham Institute in Ohio is continually doing groundbreaking research with national implications.

Reform is multifaceted, with many voices in the conversation, but it does not always have to be adversarial. Wendy Kopp, and Teach For America, works closely with school districts and charter schools, providing them with talented instructors from America's top learning institutions. The Gates Foundation has partnered with the teachers unions and has recruited thousands of schoolteachers as volunteers for a multi year study. The preliminary results are shedding new light on the issues of teacher training and accountability. Reform will not happen unless we work together.
 
But let me tell you who deserves our highest recognition and appreciation. It is the hard working, talented, effective teachers in our classrooms across America. One great teacher can shape thousands of young lives over the course of a career. We should all say a collective thank you to teachers that care for and empower our children. I'm thankful for those who have made our children's success, their life's work. I'm thankful for teachers who are true role models for our children, for those that do more than teach, they inspire. Maybe as we all pursue education reform vigorously, we should take a breath, pause, and say thank you to the unsung heroes and the shining lights in the classroom.

This is what we need to keep in mind as we talk about reform. A broken system victimizes great teachers as well as our children. Our system, as it exists, does not reward a successful teacher any differently than an under performing one. It treats the home run hitter the same as the strike out king. We need to create the tools to identify and celebrate the best teachers. Accountability is not an unwelcome word to an over performing teacher, especially if it leads to better tools and higher compensation.

Let’s continue the research and the debates. Let’s continue to advocate for systemic changes and face the hard realities. Let’s confront the truth about education in America even if it stings. But let’s not lump all teachers into one group, let's not judge them by their worst and let's not view them all through the same lens. Doing so is disrespectful to the teachers that are thriving and giving their best for our kids, day in and day out.

When you have a basketball team named after you, you really want them to do well. The high school basketball team at Agassi Prep just wrapped up a great season, winning the state championship and having our head coach William Hopkins named Coach of the Year. The players and coaching staff worked so hard all year to compete at the highest levels and represent Agassi Prep with dignity and character.

To celebrate the team’s winning season, a huge parade was held today with our famed drum line leading the team from the elementary school all the way to the gymnasium, with the rest of the six hundred and fifty students and our cheerleaders cheering them on. What a great accomplishment for our hard working players, it is a memory they will keep with them for life.

To close the ceremony, I spoke to the players about their season. I told them that I celebrated their great wins, but more so, that I was proud of how they managed themselves and how they controlled what they could control. Those are the lessons that they can rely upon as they build their future lives.

Also one other thing we’re happy about at Agassi Prep. The Clark County Commission has declared February 26th 2011, Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy Public Appreciation Day.

I like being busy and I like it even more when tomorrow plays out different from today. Change and variety in my schedule is refreshing, as long as I stay on track and each day is a step forward toward my goals.

Here's a quick glimpse at the next two weeks. I'm off to Washington DC to help get our children off the couch and outside, being active. Stefanie and I are filming a Public Service Announcement with the First Lady, Michelle Obama, to encourage kids to get in shape.

Next, I'm off to Philly to speak at one of America's finest business school, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. I'll be interviewed on stage by my friend Bobby Turner, and I plan to talk about the future for high performing charter schools and how we can create more of them in the near term. After that, hello Baltimore, and the Cal Ripkin Sr. Foundation. Cal Jr. is a good friend that is doing great work helping children, especially in the inner cities. Cal and I joined with some other well-known athletes to found Athletes For Hope, which you can read about online. I'll be receiving an award at Cal's event but my true goal is to help him raise funds for his work.

I end the month in my favorite big city, New York. Time to brush off my racket again and hit Madison Square Garden on the 28th for another face-off with Pete Sampras. We've been at this for a long time.

That's my update. I'll be chiming in now and then on Facebook as the month unfolds. I hope your all well, and please check back in, things move fast around here.

Here we are heading full steam into 2011, and as I think about the coming year one word keeps stirring in my thoughts; opportunity. Our ability to improve children’s lives, and our influence in bringing reform to education in America is going to grow this year.

We’ve started the year with several significant opportunities to effect change in Education. First, I’ve met with Nevada’s incoming governor, Brian Sandoval. Together we talked about how vital it is that every child in Nevada has access to a great education and successfully reaches graduation. I stressed that the achievement gap between the wealthy and the underprivileged will only be closed if we have the courage to create real reform. It is morally the right thing to
do, and on a practical level, it is the right thing for the future of our state.

I've also had the pleasure of meeting with the new Superintendent of the Clark County School District, which is by the way, the fifth largest in the nation. Dwight Jones brings a reputation of innovation and reform. Working alongside the new governor, this is our best chance for real systemic change for education. It can't come soon enough.

Our next great opportunity to effect change is on the national level. Arne Duncan, the administration’s reform minded head of the Department of Education, has named our own Francisco Aguilar to the national board of the ‘Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education’ (FIPSE) in Washington DC. A board filled with extremely talented and influential members from Universities and Institutes from around the country. ‘Cisco’ has been with the Agassi Foundation for three years and we’re proud he will be serving our country, contributing his enormous abilities and representing our principles of reform on a national level.

Also, I’ve personally been spending more and more time working closely with businesses and the private sector, mapping out the role they can play in bringing better education to those living in poverty. I’ve been meeting with CEO’s, directors, financial institutions, inner city mayors and many others to harness their resources to build new charter schools where they’re needed the most.

So if I’m not umpiring a little league game, or in some corner of the globe trying to raise funds for our Foundation, I’m most likely in a boardroom somewhere in America advocating for the next generation. It’s going to be an exciting year!

I’m just back from an intense but really enjoyable trip to Brazil. It’s a place that overwhelms your senses, the colors, the music, the passion for life, it all worked together to reinvigorate and inspire me.

The centerpiece of my time there was to compete against an old friend. Ten years earlier I played Gustavo Kuerten in the finals of the Tennis Masters Cup. It was a riveting match, which after he won gave him the world number one ranking. We both thought, after ten years, it was time for a rematch, but this time in front of his fellow Brazilians. Unfortunately, for my body, it seemed like ten 'dog years'. But we had a hard fought match and the fans were loud and proud, they really ate it up. They are wild about Guga (his nickname), and they made me feel right at home too.

I can’t say enough good things about Guga and his Country. The crowd seems to absorb who he really is, as more than an athlete but as a great human being that represents his people with class. His home country, Brazil is an emerging powerhouse. It has a fast growing economy, vibrant culture, and it will play host to two major international sporting events in the coming years. One side note that made an impression on me, the police are cracking down on some of the undesirable parts of society in Rio, years back that could have created fear and suspicion of the police for the whole city. Not today, I actually saw people applaud and cheer the police like war heroes on the streets. That tells you something about the good character of the people.

Now it’s time to put the racket down, give myself a short rest, and start acting like a forty year old again.

It’s been one month since we celebrated our 15th Grand Slam for Children. The event, and the effect  that it will have on our students, has touched a deep emotional chord in me. The giving and generosity on display that night, all on behalf of providing hope for children, now, a month later, leaves me almost speechless.

On October 9th, people from around the world, gathered at Wynn resort in Las Vegas to support our Foundation and it’s mission of reforming education in America. As a result, we raised a dizzying eight and a half million dollars.

When I replay the evening in my mind, the highlight reel is amazing. There was our former graduate AJ, singing “ Do I Make You Proud”, and then a duet with Jennifer Hudson. AJ then reminded us all, of why we do what we do. He told us he was not only the first person in his family to go to college, but that he was the first to ever graduate high school. Agassi Prep has transformed so many young lives like AJ, it’s humbling just to be a part of it.

I also had the pleasure to do more running than a five-setter, racing to tables where people held up signs to give to our Sponsor Our Students campaign. I took a moment on stage to thank a few special friends by name, that do so much for us, year in, year out. I tried to adequately thank Kirk Kerkorian, but I had to battle some long held emotions as I spoke. I thanked him for being so gracious to my dad when he came to Las Vegas. For saving our family financially during a painful stretch almost thirty years ago, and for standing shoulder to shoulder with us at the Foundation from the beginning.

For every one of you that is a part of this movement, thank you for caring so much about our next generation. Thank you for not doing the easy thing, but doing the hard things that are required to change lives. I promise you this is only the beginning, going forward, working together, we are going to have an even greater impact on behalf of children across America.

After much deliberation, and some 'lively' input from Jaden and Jaz, we have added a new member to the Agassi clan. He's a Black Flat Coated Retriever, appropriately named Buster.

With two busy careers, and two children in their prime, we still couldn't help but bring one more bundle of energy under our roof. He's 18 weeks old and has more stamina than four Agassi's put together. He is especially gifted at finding things we thought lost for years, including batteries, shoes and the occasional homework assignment that long ago mysteriously disappeared. Thanks Buster.

He's all puppy, and a great entertainer. It's quite a sight when he does three laps around the yard in high gear, and then collapses as if in a coma. We love him as a bona fide member of the family, and we all pitch in, but as you might expect, it's Stefanie that does most of the heavy lifting, always making sure he's fed and happy, just like the rest of us.