Students tease each other waiting in line for lunch inside the cafeteria at the Desire Street Academy, a North Baton Rouge boarding school that offers a safe and educational environment.

Oscar Brown grew up in the crime-addled Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans, but spent his time at Desire Street Ministries’ summer camp. He now is the official disciplinarian at the academy.

“You get joy out of it. But once they graduate, you get scared. You start second-guessing yourself—‘Did we do enough? Is he ready? Is he going to make it?’” says Oscar Brown pictured here monitoring the hallways of Desire Street Academy.

With an “RIP” tattoo down his forearm, student Tito Edwards reads during the school's daily reading period.

“You felt a whole lot safer at the ministry because the adults around were not drug dealers and hustlers,” says 18-year old junior Nick Ramsey, pictured here with his math teacher, Al Francois.

Teacher Al Francois, right, talks with student Corey Nevilles inside the chapel at Desire Street Academy.

Football coach Lawrence Brown teaches science in the church at Desire Street Academy. Brown's classroom was set up in the back of the church because of lack of space in the main school building.

Rob Leverett teaches the Bible at the Desire Street Academy.

“There is nothing like graduating a kid from school who you know didn’t have a chance anywhere else,” says Leroy Scott, the interim director at Desire Street Academy.