their way down Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, past the boarded-up buildings and beat-down bodegas. They pass the Capitol, the Mall and the memorials.
Before long they're downtown. Surrounded by a sea of professionals, they step off the buses and stride into the light-filled atrium at 555 13th St. NW.
For six years, students at Thurgood Marshall Public Charter School have made a monthly pilgrimage to the D.C. headquarters of mega-firm Hogan Lovells (formerly Hogan & Hartson).
There, they learn the vocabulary of the U.S. legal system and act out court cases in a series of mock trials. They are the prosecution and the defense, the judges and the jury.
Welcome to Marshall Law Day.
Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School sits in the heart of Anacostia, not far from the Barry Farms housing project. Seventy-four percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and 96 percent come from wards 7 and 8.
But to really understand the school, you must begin in the hallowed halls of Georgetown Law School. Joshua Kern was a second-year law student at Georgetown when he joined "Street Law," a program that provides law students with opportunities to teach at local schools. And Kern, who taught at Ballou High School in Southeast, was instantly struck by what he saw.
"You got the impression throughout the day, the way that teachers interacted with students, the way the intercom system interrupted the class four or five times in a 45-minute period, that student learning was not respected," he said. "And that was very frustrating for me and for other students that were participating in the program."
So Kern gathered a group of Georgetown Law students and professors for a self-taught seminar on public education reform. Over the course of a year, they discussed issues related to urban education and began devising a concept for their dream school - a rigorous program organized around the theme of the law.
"Skills students develop in law school are important to be successful in life, and not just to be successful as lawyers," he said. "How to think critically. How to advocate for yourself, and for your community ... . How to present evidence when making an argument. These are things that are important no matter what profession you want to go into."
Over winter break, the Georgetown students crafted a curriculum. A few weeks later, they selected a name.
"Given that we were starting a school in Ward 8 ... with a law theme, it just seemed to make sense to name it after Justice Marshall," Kern said, referencing the lawyer who argued Brown v. Board of Education and went on to serve as the first African- American justice on the Supreme Court. "One of the foundational concepts in Brown v. Board is that every child has the right to a first-class education. And that is something that is one of the hallmarks of this school," Kern said.
In 2001, Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School opened its doors in the basement of an Alabama Avenue church. Its first class included only 80 ninth-graders. In 2004 - after a $14.5 million renovation - the academy moved into the former Nichols Avenue School building on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. The school now serves 390 students.
Jessica Sher, the school's director of strategic programs and partnerships, said most ninth-graders entering Thurgood Marshall are reading at a fifth- or sixth-grade level when they arrive. So teachers often begin by emphasizing basic skills in reading and math. "And we really try and tackle their deficiencies by [providing] quality education in the classroom," she said.
But the school also goes beyond that, supplementing academics with hefty doses of after-school programming, field trips and law-related projects. For example, by visiting Hogan - where one of Kern's Georgetown classmates is a partner - students learn the nuts and bolts of the legal process, while simultaneously practicing public speaking, Sher said. Perhaps more importantly, they get a glimpse of life at one of the nation's most prominent law firms.
"I think my favorite part of the job is watching the kids walk into the lobby of Hogan Lovells on the first law day and they look up and see the beautiful glass-filled ceiling, the fountain and the hustle and bustle of that environment," Sher said. "They're learning these skills of how people behave in a professional environment so that they want to get there themselves."
And so far, the strategy appears to be paying off. In 2009, 66.7 percent of Thurgood Marshall students scored proficient in reading on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System, and 72 percent scored proficient in math - over three times the rate of students at a couple of nearby Ward 8 schools. In the six graduating classes, 100 percent of the students have been accepted to college.
Ninth-grader Lexis Harkum said she went to Thurgood Marshall looking for a challenge - and found it. "I made straight A's in math but when I got to Thurgood Marshall I had to struggle to bring them up," she said. "We learn a lot."
Harkum might have found something else, too. "I never thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but it made me want to become a lawyer," she said. "You can have a better life."