Khali Sweeney has a proven formula for educating students: “Books before boxing.”
He created a family environment at the Downtown Boxing Gym in Detroit and an afterschool program flexible enough to address each student’s specific needs.
The results are impressive: Since its founding in 2007, the program has reported a 100 percent high school graduation rate.
“I have the flexibility to focus on a student’s exact problem,” Sweeney said. “A school system has deadlines, a curriculum that must be followed. If I think a kid needs to start, or return to basics in math, that’s what we do.”