With only 16 days until Pitbull’s SLAM! Charter Middle School in Palm Beach, FL opens for the 2016-2017 school year, the finishing touches are still being put into the campus.

Palm Beach’s CBS12 visited the campus site last month to talk to SLAM!‘s principal, and to find out more about the middle school’s academics.

“It’s a tough neighborhood. Ninety-four percent of our students are on free or reduced lunch. However, we graduate 95-percent of our students,” says the Sports, Leadership, and Management Academy principal, Alex Tamargo.

It’s impressive, considering the graduation rate for South Florida public schools is less that 80-percent.

“When you come to SLAM, it’s not if you’re going to college, it’s where you’re going to college,” adds Tamargo.

So what’s the secret? Sports.

Students choose an academy: Sports Medicine, Broadcasting or Marketing, Entertainment, & Management. Teachers incorporate sports into their lessons. They like to call it: “SLAMifying” a lesson.

“It combines the two things I’m most passionate about, business and sports,” says 11th grader, Nelson Canizares, “So it helps me get ahead in life and hopefully be able to do something in that field.”

Students will begin classes at SLAM! Palm Beach on August 15th, but there is still time to apply to enroll sixth graders at this tuition-free charter school. Visit SLAMPalmBeach.com for more information.