Creating Scholar Athletes: Tennis & Education

In addition to the student athletes we serve in our year round program, Portland After-School Tennis and Education, Inc partners with SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) After-School Programs to provide tennis and educational fun to at-risk low income students three times during the school year. 30 students from 1st to 5th grade just graduated from their tuition-free 8 week program! Each week two groups of 15 students came to St Johns Racquet Center in Portland, Oregon to learn about African Animals, play tennis, work on life skills and participate in our fitness dances! Like our year round students, the SUN groups selected an animal to learn about and then created cheers and artwork about their chosen animals! They became known as the Brave Baboons and the Joyful Giraffes!

The graduation ceremony was followed by an amazing performance at the SUN After-School Showcase where the Brave Baboons and Joyful Giraffes were joined by the Classy Chimpanzees (K-3rd grade), the Elite Elephants (4-5th grade) and the Cheetah Champs (6th grade) to dance to the "Waka Waka!" The students had worked hard on perfecting their moves and it paid off!

See the video of their performance here!

For our SUN school students this was a special moment as they got to perform with the year round PAST&E student athletes for the first time. They felt a strong sense of community and belonging and know that they have a second home at PAST&E. Furthermore, they've shown they've got the confidence to perform in front of a large group! We're so proud of their accomplishments and hope we'll see them again soon!

Thanks again for your support of our program!

Links:

• Read our Holiday Newsletter Here!

PAST&E's Island Hopping Summer Curriculum infused science into art, reading, writing, fitness and nutrition activities all summer long. Each week we "traveled" to a different Island to learn about endemic species, cultures, history and politics, arts and crafts and foods eaten on each Island. Our focus on science, in particular animal biology, filled a gap in our student athlete's school experience and filled our day with fun enriching new activities. Each week the students sent postcards from the Island they learned about to one another, wrote newspaper articles about the activities they participated in, and made their own cheers and songs about the animals they learned about. These activities were a great way to make education fun and exciting for the student athletes, giving them the chance to learn for the sake of learning, not because they would be tested on the material!

For the PAST&E Student Athletes, it's important to learn about citizenship and how to respect and contribute in a positive way at PAST&E, at home, at school, in our local community, in our city, state and across the world! While learning about endangered species we focused on what we can do to help! The biggest impact we can make is to learn about animals, how they've become endangered and what is being done to help! While PAST&E didn't actually travel to the 8 Islands/Island nations we visited this summer, we did visit these places in spirit and feel a personal connection to each place!

This fall we are focusing on three animals to understand on a deeper level how people have advocated for animals and the positive changes they have been able to make on their behalf. Our K-3rd grade student athletes are studying Chimpanzees and Dr. Jane Goodall, our 4-5th grade student athletes are studying Elephants and Daphne Sheldrick, and our 6th grade student athletes are studying Cheetahs and Dr. Laurie Marker. We look forward to sharing more about these animals soon!