When it came time to choose a high school in 2004, Washington native Darrion Willis angled for Gonzaga College High School — a local sports powerhouse.
His mother had other plans. She wanted Willis to attend Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School, a groundbreaking law-themed school founded three years earlier in a the city’s high-crime, economically depressed Anacostia area. The school was building a reputation for strong academics and safety, and she thought it would be a good fit.
