RICHMOND, Va. -- School is about to start for Richmond students, but some of them have a head start because of what they did over the summer.
"Four hundred plus middle school kids corralled in one place with so much spirit and intensity; it's amazing,"Higher Achievement Richmond Executive Director Tyren Frazier said.
The Higher Achievement Olympics of the Mind event earlier this month brought Richmond middle schoolers together for a six-week summer program for a simple reason.
"Every kid forgets over the summertime," Frazier said. "To see that growth, it totally amazes me. And it also gets them prepared to what they're going to see in the upcoming school year starting in September."
Frazier brought in a special judge this year; Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham.
Chief Durham knows a thing or two about the program because he went through it himself as a kid in 1976.
He'll tell you it’s important to practice reading, writing and arithmetic here, but there's an even more valuable lesson to be learned.
"Really, about right from wrong," Chief Durham said. "Giving us a sense of responsibility and character. I think that it helped me along my life and probably is why I'm Chief of Police."
