Creating Scholar Athletes: Tennis & Education

It has been a beautiful summer, kicked off by the gift of a beautiful new garden sign, created by scholar athletes Ashley and Christian and their father—a perfect beginning for a summer dedicated to appreciating and preserving the natural world.

Each summer scholar athletes spend 9-weeks in our "Serving Up Success" program. This program is specifically designed to stop summer learning loss. Learning progress lost over the summer months disproportionately affects low-income students. It is one of the major causes of the achievement gap between lower and higher income students.

This summer, our Serving Up Success program follows the theme "Kids Saving the Earth," and each week has had its own exciting theme. So far we've explored:

Air

Composting Counts

Plain as Water

This Land is Your Land - and Things are Warming Up

Everything Creepy Crawly and Fuzzy Wuzzy

Scholar athletes have enjoyed learning activities, science experiments, field trips, and community service projects, all helping them learn about the environment and what they can do to protect it.

It has been a splendid year for the environment at PT&E. In April we celebrated Earth Day with our annual Earth Day Walk. This year our walk was an opportunity to learn about Earth's history. Step by step, scholar athletes took the journey from the forming of the Earth, 4.5 billion years ago, up to the current day. The halfway point found us in North Portland's Pier Park where we were met by entomologist Mark Hitchcox who talked with the kids about the park and the creatures and plants that live there.

It has been an exciting summer for tennis as well. July brought the Davis Cup to the Portland area, and PT&E scholar athletes were in the thick of it. At the US Davis Cup Team Family Fun Fair, the Monday before the competition, scholar athletes and coach/tutors did some art making with the US Davis Cup Team—hitting paint-soaked tennis balls against a fresh canvas. On Wednesday, the collegiate players traveling with the US Davis Cup Team visited PT&E and held a mini tennis clinic with the kids. On Thursday, scholar athletes trekked downtown to Pioneer Courthouse Square to join the Davis Cup teams for the coin-flip ceremony. They performed to Beyoncé's "Let's Move" and displayed their skills with exhibition matches on the square. Throughout the competition—Friday, Saturday, & Sunday—PT&E scholar athletes had the honor of serving as flag-bearers and ball kids.

It is your support that makes these crucial learning opportunities and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities possible for PT&E scholar athletes. Your contributions open doors otherwise closed to low-income youth. We thank you.

What these students most need is steady support. If you have not already done so, please consider signing up for a monthly contribution. Or "sponsor a champion" in the Serving Up Success program.

As a sponsor, you will be personally matched with a child and have the opportunity to get to know each other through letters, as well as a quarterly update that includes a short note written by them and progress on their tennis and academic success. Additionally, your sponsorship also includes invitations to PT&E events such as our annual end of the year Sponsor-A-Champion BBQ, where you will be able to enjoy time with them and their peers. 

Visit our website to learn more! — www.ptande.org