Tenacity was founded by Ned Eames, a management consultant and tennis pro who wanted to give more opportunities to inner-city students. The organization is built on a unique collaboration between athletics and academics. Tenacity staff work with teachers and school administrators to create individual study plans to help students in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and journaling, while the tennis program gets students active, and teaches them discipline, confidence and social skills. More than 95% of Tenacity students graduate from high school, versus Boston’s average of 70%. Also, 80% of Tenacity students go to college. In the next five years, Tenacity will serve 2,000 students, expand its academic support to math, and partner with schools to create multi-purpose spaces to increase capacity in its tennis instruction. Sound academics, life skill development, field trips and athletics is clearly a winning combination.