'We're gonna educate the world, baby!' Mike Tyson opens school focused on financial literacy and community engagement

Mike Tyson will lend his likeness to the name of a new "micro-school" aimed at providing a more comprehensive education for middle school and high school students that focuses on innovation, financial literacy, and more.

The Tyson Transformational Technologies Academy is a new institution set up in Arizona to serve grades 6 to 12. All tuition costs will be covered through Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, along with internal school scholarships, the new school said in a press release.

Arizona first established ESAs in 2011 to allow students with disabilities to attend different educational institutions outside of public or charter schools. A qualified student's parents receive state tax funds in exchange for agreeing that they will be used on approved expenses for education while not enrolling the student in a school district or charter school and not accepting any other tuition or scholarships.

Tyson's new academy said that it hopes to "redefine learning" by teaching kids about innovation, financial literacy, mentorship, and community engagement.

To open the school, Tyson teamed up with Daniel Puder, a former professional athlete. Puder won the WWE's "Tough Enough" competition in 2004-2005; a million-dollar contest the wrestling organization conducted to find the next big wrestling star. Puder also had a short, but successful, six-year run in mixed martial arts, finishing in 2009 with a 6-0 record.

Puder told TMZ that he and Tyson found each other through mutual friends to come together on the project through the Foundation Academies School System, which Puder is the president of.

"You put me on TMZ and in the first eight weeks we had over 10,000 emails from 12 countries of kids that were being bullied. Now we have investors, we have family offices, we have over 1,300 kids, we've graduated over a thousand, we have 11 campuses... but I need the biggest brands in the world," Puder told TMZ's Harvey Levin.

Puder added that Tyson is "the biggest brand there is."

"I've been called worse," Tyson jokingly interjected.

"Who doesn't want to go to Mike Tyson's Academy? When you see that on a resume going to college people are gonna be like, 'Say what?'"

"As a society, we get to build our youths for the next generation. We are so blessed to have Mike Tyson part of our school system. He inspires our students," Puder also said in a statement.

The former heavyweight champion added that it was important to him to be able to share his life experience with the next generation.

"This new educational institution will build core values that I am honored and grateful to be part of [in] the Arizona community. I was thrilled to be part of the ribbon cutting ceremony and meeting some of the students," Tyson stated.

Tyson provided his name and likeness to the school without compensation.

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