This spring, we are following Amidon-Bowen's season highlighting their service-learning project, but also attending games and soccer practices. The Tigers are located in Southwest D.C. in Ward 6. You can follow along on Twitter and Instagram.
Written by Dahlia Chaudhury
Communications Intern
Though I was sad to be spending my last day with the Tigers, the weather outside was beautiful and perfect for soccer.
The Amidon coaches began practice with passing drills, trying to teach the poet-athletes to move after they pass. After working on that for a while, the Tigers transitioned into a scrimmage of girls vs. boys. Afterward, all the players were in high spirits heading into service-learning class.
Since my last visit, the Tigers had made significant strides in their service-learning project. They had decided on how exactly they wanted to implement their project, Fight 4 Fitness, and had created committees that would carry out each part.
The committees were split into "Media," which would handle creating a powerpoint on healthy living to show to the student body, as well as crafting daily announcements to say over the intercom in the morning; "Marketing," the group that decides what posters they will be using and creating and where they will be hung around the school for maximized viewing; and "Information Desk," a table that will be set up during after-school hours that will give health and wellness information to students in all grades as well as parents coming to pick up their child.
The students chose what committee they wanted to be on, splitting almost perfectly into three even teams without help needed from the coaches, and got straight to work. The marketing committee, assisted by Coach Carlos, started going through all the posters they already had and designing new ones they wanted to display. The media committee chose a group leader, and then designated themselves into smaller groups to work on the powerpoint and announcements. Finally, the information desk committee gathered all the resources they had, began sorting them, and then deciding what to use.
The session was very productive, and I know Amidon-Bowen is going to have a very successful service-learning project presentation at Jamboree! June 3.
In the past five weeks, I have seen growing student involvement and excitement about their project, as well as more commitment to their team and students working together to get good results at their games. I had an awesome time getting to know the Amidon students and coaches; everyone at the school was so welcoming. They made my last weeks working at DC SCORES memorable and fun, and I can't wait to go back and visit!
