NBA: LeBron James opens School for UNDERPRIVILEGED Children

155

NBA star Lebron James has opened a school for underprivileged children in his hometown of Akron in Ohio on Tuesday.

The school is a joint venture between the LeBron James Family Foundation and Akron Public Schools. LeBron James stood on a stage near one of the streets he walked as a troubled kid and looked out at thousands of faces. He felt connected to every one of them.

The 33-year-old, who recently moved from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year contract worth $154 million, hopes the school will help kids who are falling behind in education and struggling at home.

“This means everything,” James told The Associated Press in an interview before the public event. “I think this is the greatest accomplishment for me because it’s not just me. A championship is for a team, that’s for an organization and a city. But these kids, this is for generation after generation after generation and it’s for these kids, so it means everything.”

“There is no way I could have imagined this,” he said. “I remember our foundation having a bike-a-thon, and I never thought a five-mile bike ride would turn into a school. This is something I’m at a loss of words for.”

The school will house 240 at-risk kids from third and fourth grade in Akron.