There was a celebration for success in education Thursday night at Metropolitan.  Hundreds of people were at the park for the United Way's Achievers for Life end of the year party. 

The program was developed a few years ago to help at-risk middle school students achieve their goals in school and in life.  

Achievers for Life started in just two middle schools with just a few students. Now, the program is in seven Duval County schools with more than 600 students enrolled.

Those behind it say children in the program have raised their GPA's by as much as 30 percent and their pass rate is higher than the average student in the county. 

"They have a mentor who works with them one-on-one, to make sure they have someone to listen to them, to be their friend and to coach them on how to be engaged in school, complete their work and stay on track," said United Way of Northeast Florida's Connie Hodges.

To commemorate the end of another successful year, the kids and their families played games, met some Jacksonville Jaguars players and their cheerleaders. Organizers say both the event and the program get bigger every year, and they hope to expand to even more Duval County schools to reach more students in the near future.