Former University of Arizona cornerback Robert Golden hung up his cleats in 2018 after six seasons in the NFL to pursue a different passion: helping his community.

Two years later, Golden is working on opening a new K-8 charter academy in his hometown of Fresno, California.

Golden Charter Academy will not be your average school. The academy will be the first K-8 environmental zoo school in the nation.

The focus of the school’s curriculum will be on animal and plant life, with students getting daily access to Fresno Chaffee Zoo as an extension of their classroom.

“I want to give children who come from underserved communities a chance to come out of their neighborhood and see what life has to offer them,” Golden told Tucson.com.

The charter school will still feature the typical language arts, mathematics and science courses, but they will be taught using wildlife. The goal is for students to “learn to be citizens in a worldwide community and stewards of our planet,” according to Golden Charter Academy’s website.

A temporary campus for the academy is set to open in August 2021, before moving to a permanent structure in 2022.

This is just the latest way Golden is aiding his community. In the past, he donated football gear to his former high school and established an annual diabetes walk after his father died in 2016.

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