Typical elementary or high school students spend their summer break hanging out with friends, watching television or going to the mall. The thought of spending their days at a college campus refining skills in leadership would send most kids running in the other direction. However, a select group of students is giving up not just one summer, but seven consecutive summers, in hopes of changing their lives forever.

The Porter-Billups Academy, a non-sports institute partnered by Lonnie Porter, Regis University’s men’s basketball coach and Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers, helps students become leaders among their peers, see education as a path to success, graduate from high school and attend college.  About 90 percent of the Academy students will be the first members of their families to attend college.