School officials say the force behind [Thurgood Marshall] is co- founder and President Joshua M. Kern, 33. Kern, a Philadelphia native, was a law student at Georgetown University in 1999 when he signed up to teach an introduction to law class at Ballou Senior High School. After a year at Ballou, Kern decided to dedicate himself to providing a better education to the children of Ward 8.

The next fall, with help from other lawyers and law professors, Kern opened the Thurgood Marshall Academy, the District's first law- related public charter high school. Located in space rented from the Congress Heights United Methodist Church, the school set about on a mission to teach children to participate in democratic society and prepare them for college.

At first, Kern said, it was tough to attract students. "We were, frankly, primarily a group of white people, not from east of the river, and we were looked at as outsiders," he said. But as word of the school's rigorous academic program spread, the school's popularity grew. This year, Kern said, 40 ninth-graders are on the waiting list.