In this article, the author profiles the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter Public School (Hyde Park, Massachusetts) and describes the school's culture. The school's students, who are in grades 6 through 12, are surrounded by rituals, routines, and relationship-building activities. Pacific Rim's culture stems from and supports the school's mission, " to empower urban students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds to achieve their full social and intellectual potential by combining the best of the East--high standards, discipline and character education--with the best of the West--a commitment to individualism, creativity and diversity." The school's culture operates on the premise that the best way to empower students is to challenge them and to work with them and their families to ensure that they have an opportunity to realize the results of hard work. This has led to solid results, including high scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests (MCAS), as well as 62 alumni in their freshman, sophomore, or junior year of college. The school operates with a philosophy of "kaizen"--a Japanese term to describe a community's continual improvement.