Education United States Project #4440

Inspire DC Youth Through Soccer, Poetry & Service

by DC SCORES

Inspire DC Youth Through Soccer, Poetry & Service

Project Report | May 16, 2012
Summer Camp

By Jake Lloyd | Communications Coordinator

Campers

Standing under the sun’s rays on the hottest day of the summer, Emily C. smiled and didn’t skip a beat when posed the question, “Have you thought about not coming to camp because of the heat?”

“No,” said Emily, who started the fifth grade at Tubman Elementary School two weeks ago. “I never have second thoughts when it comes to summer camp.”

And that was that.

Emily wasn’t in the minority, either, this summer on Tubman’s hot turf field. Despite the triple-digit temperatures, the DC SCORES soccer camp continued on — with many precautionary measures and water breaks — because participants kept coming, eager each day to learn new soccer skills whatever the weather.

The Tubman camp was one of three summer camps ranging from soccer instruction to a combination of soccer and arts that DC SCORES offered throughout the city. Campers learned new soccer skills, practiced various types of art, and went on field trips. From the end of June through early August, our three camps served 200 youth representing nearly 40 elementary, middle, and high schools.

Each summer, there is a lack of free programs for low-income youth. With our three free summer camps, DC SCORES was able to provide DC youth with a positive, organized environment where they can get exercise, learn new skills, and make new friends from schools throughout the city.

“It’s better than doing nothing at home,” said Christian L., who began the sixth grade this fall. “You’d just rather come outside and play.”

Learning about African drumming

Field trip to Fed Ex Field

Playing soccer

Making friends

Links:

Permalink

Mar 8, 2012
DC SCORES: "Power of Choice" Winter Program

By Zach Elkin | AmeriCorps Program Manager

Noyes EC Winter Field Trip to Giant

It was a seemingly normal Tuesday afternoon at Noyes Education Campus in Northeast DC. At dismissal, many students journeyed home or to a friend’s house; others stayed behind to complete homework or head to the gym for basketball.

But returning and new DC SCORES poet-athletes soon began to gather in the hallway, anticipating the start of winter programming for the first time ever at their school. The DC SCORES program had been on break since the Poetry Slam! in December, and students were eager to get back into action.

However, this winter students would enjoy a new component in addition to soccer play: nutrition.

Coach Shakeria and Coach Terrell began the afternoon leading an activity called “Mirror Image.” This fun game challenged pairs of students to practice shadowing each other’s movements and was accompanied by a discussion on how it feels to be a leader and follower, what happens when someone makes decisions for you, and how one’s personal values shape his/her goals.

Students later played a twist on the popular charades game, where students took turns acting out a personal value for the group to guess. Later that week, Noyes students made peanut butter and “fruit-wiches” as they discussed why the snack is a healthy choice, what can be added or subtracted to make it healthier, and how the snack can be altered at home.

For the first time in three years, four teams participated in the Power of Choice (USDA created) program that teaches youth how to make healthy eating and fitness decisions. The interactive, six-week program, which took place at Bancroft ES, Brightwood EC, Noyes EC, and MacFarland MS, tought students how to read food labels and safely prepare food, examined the benefits of eating healthy food, and gave students weekly hands-on practice preparing nutritious snacks.

DC SCORES was fortunate to have this winter’s program run almost exclusively by our AmeriCorps coaches, who volunteered their time and effort and made sure students were learning and having fun after school. AmeriCorps coaches were teamed up in pairs to instruct students using the Power of Choice curriculum and incorporated their educational and professional expertise into the workshops.

It is critical for students to receive these lessons and experience first-hand the processes involved in making smart food choices. With the obesity rate among children on the rise and an unforgivable lack of healthy food options in underserved communities, showing students how they can be in control of their eating habits may be the best way to get the message across and see real change.

Aside from the knowledge and skills students gained during Power of Choice, they continued to form positive relationships with their peers and coaches, and stayed active during the time of year when many youth resort to eating larger portions of unhealthier foods and spend their after school time at home on the couch.

In general, when parents, principals, community members, and countless supporters talk about “DC SCORES,” the conversation highlights an exciting youth soccer game, memorable Poetry Slam! performance, or school event that celebrated a team’s service to their neighborhood.

This winter, many partners and supporters stopped by a participating school to check out students learning to make smoothies, cereal sundaes and pocket pita sandwiches. Sooner than later, when DC SCORES is mentioned, admirers will be hard-pressed not to include a memory from the winter season.

Winter programming took place from January 17 through March 2.

Bancroft ES Makes Fruit Smoothies

McFarland MS Makes Healthy Broccoli Alfredo Pasta

Winter Soccer Practice

Links:

Permalink

Dec 9, 2011
DC SCORES: Fall Frenzy

By Jake Lloyd | Communications Coordinator

Howard Road Academy Goes For A Goal

When the Garfield Elementary School bus pulled up to Kelly Miller Middle School last Saturday morning, its occupants weren’t exactly itching to get off it.

“They were more worried about how cold it was outside than the teams (they’d be playing),” said Garfield soccer coach Terrell Clifford. “They were like, ‘Do we have to go out here? It’s freezing!’

It wasn’t exactly an auspicious start to the first Fall Frenzy for DC SCORES’ newest elementary school. However, some five hours later, Clifford could laugh about it. By then, his small, tight-knit group of poet-athletes was mostly smiles, as the kids thoroughly enjoyed the large program event.

“They’re pretty much in awe of what’s going on,” Clifford said as he watched Garfield play its last of four games, “but they’re enjoying every second of it.”

Over 800 poet-athletes participated in the 14th annual celebration of the fall season, which drew more than 1,000 people total to Kelly Miller in Ward 7, including parents; community members; a large number of volunteers, many of them program alumni; program partners; and others

The Fall Frenzy was funded by DC Stoddert Soccer and the District’s Department of Parks and Recreation. In addition to cross-city soccer games played on nine adjacent fields, poet-athletes enjoyed facepainting; writing Haikus at the 826 DC table; running relay races with volunteers from Rotaract; creating arts and crafts at the Starbucks table; and testing their kicking accuracy and working on headers with Penya Barcelonista, DC’s official FC Barcelonia fan club. Kids also took advantage of free water bottles provided by Modell's Sporting Goods and danced -- sometimes while on the soccer field -- to the music played by DJ RBI.

At the beginning of the morning, DC SCORES Athletic Director Kenny Owens brought all the teams together to show off their school pride and kick off the day. Then, with the blaring of the mega horn, teams were dispersed, and within a minute, Kelly Miller’s athletic fields and parking lot were filled with 27 different colors.

The enormity of the event could be a little intimidating for first-time participants, especially with so many bigger kids on many of the elementary school teams. When Clifford’s group of mostly third-graders prepared to play Perry Street Prep -- which featured several fifth-graders -- the poet-athletes couldn’t believe the size of their opponents.

“Man, they’re bigger than us, I’m gonna run through their legs!” one third-grader said.

“They too big! They giants,” another poet-athlete lamented.

“Coach, tell us something!” said a third.

After a brief huddle, though, Garfield’s players relaxed with a chant of “1 … 2 … 3 .. Garfield!” and played a fearless game against the much bigger kids.

And that is all Clifford can ask of his poet-athletes at this point in the season. Starting a team at a school where most students have never touched a soccer ball or heard of a throw-in isn’t easy, Clifford knows, and he’s taking things one day at a time.

“It’s definitely a process and I think we’re getting there slowly but surely,” Clifford said. “I think the success for our team is just working together for a whole match or a half. If we’re fortunate enough to score a goal, that’s a big gain.

“A little icing on the cake.”

A few minutes later, Clifford was enjoying that icing and let out a “Yeahhhhh!!!” after his team put together a scoring play. For all its struggles against bigger, more experienced teams for most of the day, one goal more than made Garfield’s trip to Kelly Miller well worth it.

At Garfield’s first home game a few weeks back, the team received incredible support, as Clifford estimated that 70 to 80 people -- including the school band, parents and faculty members -- came out to cheer on the team. A smaller group of supporters was on hand Saturday, encouraging and giving courage to the team as it navigated uncharted territory.

And by the end of the day, no poet-athletes were complaining anymore. Except about the fact that the day, and the games, was over.

“Everyone has progressed in the same pattern,” Clifford said. “It’s a team effort for the most part.

“They’ve got some fire under them.”

Our vision is to provide DC SCORES for all youth and schools in Washington, DC in need of a free, engaging after-school program. All DC public school students DESERVE to be on a team, DESERVE to be heard through their writing and spoken word, and DESERVE to be valued as committed community members. Your support has allowed us to begin this year without making cuts to programming. To sustain our current program and to achieve our vision, we need you on our team. By donating to DC SCORES, you display the type of teamwork, leadership, and commitment we cultivate in our students.

Thompson Team

DC SCORES Alum Serve As Volunteer Refs

Students Writing Haikus At The 826 DC Table

Links:

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 5 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.