Prep school for life.

Back in 1965, John Massey, then a 17-year-old basketball star at Philadelphia's Southern High School, lacked focus. He was a young black man with neither a goal nor a game plan for his future, so he dropped out of school.

"I quit school, eventually joined the Navy and went to Vietnam," Massey said in an interview with the Record (Troy, New York). "Education wasn't a priority to me then. It was a huge error in judgment and now l focus on helping young people avoid making the mistake I made."

The now-Rev. John Massey found his calling in transforming the lives of young people when, as pastor of the Redemption Church of Christ, he was struggling to pay the tuition for his own children to attend Loudinville Christian School. He saw the need for a boarding school that would provide an affordable, quality education for black youth who faced some of the same challenges he had as a boy. He envisioned a school where he could provide guidance and direction and a total education--spiritual, mental, and physical. He envisioned a school that could combat the widespread epidemic of drugs, crime, and illiteracy among young people. So in 1979, along with his wife, Joan, Massey founded Redemption Christian Academy in Troy, New York.

Redemption was not intended to be a school for misfits. "The kids aren't a bunch of thugs and, above everything else, education comes first," Massey told the Record. "We are in the business of preparing young people to succeed academically, spiritually, socially, and athletically." Yet, Massey said in the same interview, "We do take in kids who are a risk, but they have to conduct themselves in a certain way here or they will not be part of the program, l believe everybody deserves an opportunity to succeed. That's what we provide at Redemption."

With his background playing basketball, the sport is a natural part of school life at Redemption, and Rev. Massey coaches the team himself. His players have done remarkably well for a small school whose average enrollment is around 100 students from elementary to high school. Redemption graduates are found on the teams of such colleges as Sacramento State, Alabama, West Virginia, St. John's, and Southern Indiana, and they are on the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks.

For Rev. Massey, basketball is a means to an end, not an end in itself, however. He stresses that for a student to make a favorable impression on him and succeed as a Redemption student, the student must want to make something of his life. Athletes have no special privileges and must follow the school's strict disciplinary code. Like all students at Redemption, they must achieve academically and participate in school and community service programs.

Students that other educators might have been afraid to accept provide some of the best testaments to Rev. and Mrs. Massey's accomplishments. For example, Louis Radford grew up in an environment in South Central Los Angeles dominated by gangs. His mother was 16 when he was born, and almost his entire family belonged to the notorious CRIPS. After his uncle died in gang-related activity, Radford sought to turn his life around. His basketball coach suggested Redemption Academy, and he met with Rev. Massey in 1994. As Radford tells his story: "When I first arrived at Redemption Academy, my ambitions were quite negative. As time went on, I slowly became a person of integrity."

After graduation, Radford went to the University of Wyoming on a full athletic scholarship, where he is studying theater arts. His goal is to produce films with a positive message for minority youth.

When Kevin Simmons was just nine years old, his mother left him with a foster agency in Brooklyn, New York. Though he had a difficult childhood growing up in foster care in Brooklyn's crime-ridden Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, his basketball prowess helped him gain admission to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. However, he was expelled from Oak Hill for fighting and went home to "Bed-Sty" and Brooklyn-Tilden High. He did not graduate because he failed the state-mandated academic tests. His hopes of playing college basketball were crushed.

It was then that Simmons learned about Redemption and enrolled at the school. "I was more focused than I ever had been," Simmons told the Orange County Register. "I did more studying there because I didn't have many more options."

Simmons retook his exams and passed, then considered where to go to college. His choice was UC Irvine, in Southern California, where he leads the team in scoring and rebounds.

Redemption Christian Academy has lived up to its mission statement time and time again. Part of that statement is "to develop excellence by transforming our students spiritually, academically, and athletically. An emphasis is placed on pride, self-esteem, and benevolence, teaching students to be problem solvers and standard-bearers in their communities."

In an interview with THE NEW AMERICAN, Rev. Massey spoke about what gave him the inspiration and confidence to start this venture: "The brainchild was originated by a very old teacher by the name of Mrs. Hillseley who convinced me that I could start a school. When I asked her how, she said, 'You have the intelligence; you can figure it out.' She was convinced I could do it, and she extracted something that was dormant--a potential I didn't know was there."

Massey credits much of the success of his school to the fact that his students work very hard. "We have a longer school day than virtually all schools in existence," he said.