DC SCORES Poetry Slam! and donation of bicycles just days away

Here at DC SCORES, there’s no time for rest after the Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, as we return to work, we are just a few days away from the highlight event of our fall season – the two-night Poetry Slam!

This Wednesday, students from our 13 Westside schools will take the stage at Columbia Heights Education Campus to perform several original works they’ve been practicing in the classroom for the past two months. On Thursday, students from our 10 Eastside schools will get the same opportunity, the same chance to shine in front of a large audience, at Kelly Miller Middle School.

Another successful DC SCORES season will wrap up Friday.

Part of what makes the Slam! special is its competitive nature. These next couple days, students will be working tirelessly with their writing coaches to hone their works, to make sure their routines are ground into their heads so that they’ll come naturally when on the big stage. And for those whose performances are judged the best by our panel of five judges, they’ll be rewarded at the end of the night.

The school with the top group performance will earn the coveted Golden Mic trophy, while the best individual performer each night will be rewarded the Shine award. There are also second- and third-place prizes up for grabs and the Spirit award (given to a team each night of the Slam!).

So you can see why our 700 poet-athletes are excited. Soccer season is over, but their competitive juices are still flowing.

And for 46 DC SCORES kids, this 12th annual Poetry Slam! has even more meaning. Stephen Harrell of Bicycle Stations, a new bike store in Northwest, has generously donated brand-new bikes for a deserving boy and a girl from each school.

Toward the beginning of the fall season, DC SCORES staff went to each school and did a presentation for the poet-athletes there on our theme of this year: leadership. The staff member told the assembled students that toward the end of the season, they would vote on who showed the best leadership.

Well, the votes are in – and each night of the Slam!, students will be rewarded certificates on stage for earning a free bicycle.

“In donating the bikes for the kids, I hope to teach them one more thing: satisfaction,” Harrell said. “I want them to be proud of themselves and to feel the same sense of enjoyment as I do when I ride my bike.”

Featuring several student performances as well as guest performances by professional musicians, a coaches’ Slam!, the giving away of bikes, and capped off by trophy presentations, each night of the 2009 Poetry Slam! will surely bring enjoyment to those in attendance.

See below for more information about the Slam!, which is free to the public.  

WHAT:             On consecutive nights, more than 300 of the District’s public elementary and        middle school students will take the stage during the 12^th annual citywide DC SCORES Poetry Slam! competition to vie for the coveted Golden Mic trophy. The Slam! showcases original works of poetry written and performed by students from the DC SCORES after-school program. During this event, a boy and a girl from each of our 23 schools will receive a new bicycle courtesy of Bicycle Stations for displaying leadership during the DC SCORES fall season.

WHEN &           Wednesday, December 2, 6:00 p.m.

WHERE:           Columbia Heights Education Campus

                        3101 16^th Street, NW Washington, DC (Metro: Columbia Heights)

                        Thursday, December 3, 6:00 p.m.

                        Kelly Miller Middle School

                        301 49^th Street, NE Washington, DC (Metro: Benning Road)