Light over darkness, our lives matter: A Poetry Slam! full of inspirational messages

Written by Jake Lloyd
Communications Manager

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Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that

It's impossible to choose one line from Wednesday night's DC SCORES Poetry Slam! that encapsulates the collective message sent by DC kids over the course of three hours.

But that first line from Marie Reed Elementary School, the last of 21 teams to take the stage, is as representative as any.

In front of a standing-room-only audience inside Columbia Heights Education Campus' auditorium, team after team of District youth ages 8-14 expressed their feelings through poetry Wednesday night. Performances were choreographed beautifully. They were often bilingual. They brought laughter from the audience. And tears, too.

During a time in our country when things are uncertain and nerveracking -- particularly for the immigrant youth who made up the majority of the Slam's poet-athletes, and their families who watched with pride -- Wednesday's event was a catharsis of sorts. And reason for optimism.

Kids are incredibly smart, their thoughts nuanced. Kids' voices are powerful, inspirational, impassioned.

We all come from different places, but we all come as one
-- Bancroft Elementary School

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If only our country's leaders listened to these kids. Throughout the Slam!, one team after another addressed the issues they're grappling with, but not with vitriol and not by pointing fingers.

Rather, they did so by spelling out and illustrating what truly makes our country, our city, and our neighborhoods great.

"I love my country, I love my home," chanted Capital City Public Charter School's students. "Stop hurting my beautiful people."

Wearing different colored hoodies, Lincoln Middle School's message was clear: "The next time you see me, put some respect on my name."



"If I were in charge of the world, I would ban racism and make sure everyone was safe and not violent," said Chinaedum U. of Barnard Elementary School.

Raymond Middle School took the stage with signs including "Love trumps hate" and messages that resonated with many:

"Everyone has a choice. Start using your voice! America, wake up and do what's right!"

"The soil is the land of many/Who are you to take away our homes of plenty?"

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If there's one DC SCORES poet-athlete who exemplies that your size does not determine the influence of your voice, it's Luis R. of Brightwood Education Campus. Decked out in his blue soccer uniform, the 10-year-old led his team's second-place performance and took the microphone with the confidence of a future world leader.

"I stand up for all immigrants in the U.S."

Luis' group-leading performance was followed by Natalia L., also 10, who wowed the crowd with an individual poem that would later win her the Shine Award for best individual performance. When Natalia found out she'd won, she rushed the stage with pure elation, hugging D.C. United coach Ben Olsen who was there to hand her a trophy. 

That moment, as much as any, demonstrated how much the Slam! means to the kids.

Then I got it, 

What if I was an explorer, 

What if I found a place that no one from our people had ever discovered, 

What if in that place kids can run freely, 

Without having to worry about the dangers in the world, 

What if in this world peace there was the number one law, 

And no one dared to break it,

-- Natalia L., 10, Brightwood EC

Ideas. Messages. Hope. The theme continued throughout the evening, one performance blending into another yet standing out for its originality as well. The above-capacity audience stayed for it all. 

LaSalle-Backus' elementary school youth impressed with their poem "Onomatopoeia" and then suggested TLC -- DC SCORES' core values of teamwork, leadership and commitment -- "for the United State of America." Third-place finisher Seaton Elementary asked: 

Don't we have the right to vote? 
Don't we have the right to live? 
Don't we have the right to choose? 
Don't we have the right to work? 
Do we live in a democracy? 

And then answered...

We have, We have a voice 
Nosotros tenemos una voz 
We have, We have a voice 
Nosotros tenemos una voz 
Sun-ing 

With their faces painted the colors of their home countries' flags, Bancroft's poet-athletes delivered a unifying, bilingual "Where we come from" poem. Then Ramon C., age 9, took the mircophone and described poetically his year-and-a-half journey emigrating to the United States -- including 15 days spent in jail.

Powerful.

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By 7:30pm, two hours and 19 performances in, so much had been seen and said that emcee Charity Blackwell could have sent a willing, inspired audience home. Yet two schools remained, and they would both leave the auditorium celebrating winning the Golden Mic trophies. 

KIPP WILL Academy's students could be on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter movement, because their performance's message was unified, clear, passionate, and delivered beautifully -- an individual poem, then a group one, another solo poem, and finally a group one.

"What's the point of having freedom if we aren't really free?" Jaquan W., 12, asked into the mic one moment. The next, his teammates, in their red soccer uniforms, joined him: 

We choose our own fate
Try to make no mistake
Live for the peace.
From the past to the present
(Pause) Life can be pleasant
Live for the peace
You can live rich
And your heart will be switched but
Live for the peace
In the hopes of being suture
(Pause) We can be the future
Live for the peace 



Marie Reed followed KIPP WILL, the kids taking the stage with labels hanging in front of their orange DC SCORES uniforms. "Bad," "violent," "ugly," "selfish," "girl," "uneducated," and more. The poet-athletes proceeded to debunk labels through poetry, punctuating their performance with:

Let’s rip off these labels
And say sayonara
So we can live in a world where
The color of your skin won’t matter to anyone

And with that, the 19th Annual Westside DC SCORES Poetry Slam! had reached its climax. Not every team or poet-athlete left with a trophy half an hour later, but all delivered messages, pleas, hope and inspiration for the hundreds of adult audience members who packed the auditorum.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that




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Elementary Schools 
1st place — Marie Reed Elementary School
2nd place — Brightwood Education Campus
3rd place — Seaton Elementary School
Spirit Award — H.D. Cooke Elementary School
Shine Award — Natalia L., Brightwood Education Campus

Middle Schools 
1st place — KIPP WILL
2nd place — Truesdell EducationCampus
3rd place — MacFarland Middle School
Spirit Award — Brightwood Education Campus
Shine Award — Yanina C., Lincoln MIddle School

DC SCORES Fall Frenzy delivers nonstop activity for over 1,000 kids

The day began in complete darkness, just an empty soccer field in NE Washington, DC. It ended with the same empty bed of green grass under a blue sky pocked with the puffiest of clouds.

In between 6:30am and 2:30pm, something happened. Something really BIG.

The 19th Annual DC SCORES Fall Frenzy took over the athletic fields at Trinity Washington University Saturday, bringing nonstop soccer games and a host of other sports and arts activities to more than 1,000 elementary school program participants.

The day began with two and a half hours of setup, was followed by a call-and-response with all the teams at 9:20am, and then a 1-2-3 DC SCORES!!! And action.

From there, every DC SCORES team -- all kids and coaches proudly wearing their jerseys, the colors ranging from neon pink, to dark blue, from neon green, to yellow, you get the point; the teams covered the spectrum -- rotated between activities.

Six soccer games at a time were played on the main Trinity field. Up the hill, two more games were conducted at a time. And down the hill, on the lower level, teams switched between an event-record 11 stations all run by DC SCORES program partners and volunteers.

Relay races. Dodgeball. A soccer skills station. Poetry writing. Coloring and drawing. The shooting accuracy station. Facepainting. Picture-taking with D.C. United mascot Talon. And even autographs with DCU players Charlie Horton and Chris Korb.

The event wouldn't have been at all possible without the incredible support of 160-plus volunteers, many representing the dozens of SCORES partner groups who came out to help. From Safeway's huge truck arriving in the morning to deliver loads of water bottles, to AmeriHealth DC's table with lots of healthy goodies for the kids, to the George Washington Swim & Dive team -- the entire team -- picking up trash all over the grounds and breaking down goals to aid a quick exit after the kids were gone, our partners basically ran Fall Frenzy.

Here's a full list of Fall Frenzy partners. Thank you again!
CBRS American University
City Kids
Clark Construction
D.C. United
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Discovery Education
DJ RBI
Edmund Burke School
Kappa Alpha Theta
The Field School
GWU Phi Delta Psi
GWU Men's Swimming and Diving
GWU Men's Soccer
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Howard University Alpha Phi Omega
November Project DC
Promontory Financial Group
Revolution Foods
Trinity Washington University

If you asked any kid their favorite part of Fall Frenzy, you'd likely get a different answer. Many, of course, said the soccer. They relished the chance to not just play, but take on new teams from all over Washington, DC (during our regular game days, teams don't travel too far for games because of late school dismissals and traffic). Others loved the relay races. Others showed off their "Messi" facepainting. And at the end of the day, kids rushed to the table where Horton and Korb sat, handing them shoes and anything elee for autographs. Talon, obviously, was another big hit.

The action-packed day left kids, and their families, exhausted as the field quickly cleared at 2:30pm, the goals, booths and people gone within 30 minutes. By 3pm, it was as if nothing had even happened.

Those who experienced it know much better. Here's some photo evidence.

FALL FRENZY 2016 BY THE NUMBERS

• 1,000+ kids
• 160+ volunteers
• 96 soccer games
• 22 partner groups 
• 11 activity booths
• 1 mascot 

21st Annual Jamboree! puts an exclamation mark on spring DC SCORES season

Written by Jake Lloyd
Communications Manager

(View all Jamboree! photos in our Flickr and Storify albums)

The DC SCORES Jamboree! was such a big event Saturday, a team drove four hours to participate.

That's right -- the America SCORES New York team from Hamilton Grange Middle School in Harlem made the drive south to take part in the 21st edition of the culminating event of the spring DC SCORES season.

Unofficially, this marked the first time a team from one of America SCORES' 14 sites visited another city to participate in an event.  And judging from the expressions on the faces of the 50 or so Hamilton students as they played in one soccer game after another, they enjoyed the Jamboree! just as much as the 50 DC teams that congregated on the large grassy expanse at Anacostia Park.

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The day started at 5:45am as DC SCORES staff and volunteers began arriving. Why so early? Because 30 soccer goals needed to be set up and nets strung. Because dozens of tents in the booth area needed to be erected, and the supplies for each activity laid out ready for one team after another to visit (with no breaks). Because water stations needed to be placed all across the large area, and carrying or pulling huge jugs is no easy task.

Setup continued for three hours, only concluding as the elementary school City Cup championship games got underway. And as the Burrville and Marie Reed girls and Capital City and Amidon boys played exciting games, the field all around them became a sea of oranges, and whites, sky blues and dark blues, reds and greens, and blacks and grays. All of the other teams spilled across the still-wet surface, wearing their custom DC SCORES T-shirts.

Thomas, Bancroft, Hart, Tubman, Aiton, Seaton, Thomson, Miner, Brightwood, Moten, LaSalle-Backus, Imagine Hope, Orr, Raymond, Anne Beers, KIPP QUEST, H.D. Cooke -- the list goes on.

As the City Cup games concluded, Program Director Sean Hinkle huddled all the elementary schools around DJ RBI's booth, reminded everyone what soccer games are all about -- sportsmanship -- and then proceeded to point to all the teams, eliciting yells of "BARNARD!" and "TRUESDELL!" and "PAYNE!" and "LECKIE!" The list goes on.

A couple hundred yards away, former DC SCORES staff member and emcee extraordinaire for several SCORES poetry slams Charity Blackwell was doing the same kind of call-and-response for middle schools.

And then it was go time, 2,000 kids in different colored shirts dispersing and heading to the first stop of many to begin a long, exhilarating, entertaining, and fulfilling day.

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To give you a sense of everything that Jamboree! provided for its participants, here's what one school, Thomas Elementary, did during the five-hour event:

9:25 am -- The Tigers gather around a smattering of large letters on the grass under the shade of a few large trees and play "word relays." Following the prompts of Clark Construction and other volunteers, the kids spell out words and phrases related to their experience in the program.

Meanwhile the other half of the team tests their bean bag-throwing accuracy as they alternate tossing the bags into different circles and triangles 10 feet away from them.

9:50am -- Time to prepare those skills for the games! The Tigers head to their next station where a group of volunteers lead them through dribbling, heading and other soccer essential skills.

10:15am -- Game time! The Tigers in their white uniforms take on Miner in a girls game followed by a boys game. Smiles are everywhere as the kids race up and down the field.

11:05am -- Let's decorate! The Tigers head to the facepainting station, where they give orders -- their jersey number, a heart, stars, etc. -- to the incredibly artistic volunteers.

11:30am -- Looking their best, it's time for Thomas' photo shoot in front of the D.C. United banner. But not before they get autographs from pro soccer player Patrick Nyarko. After their official team photo, they celebrate by testing out their hula hooping skills while moving to DJ RBI's beats.

11:55am -- It's back to the action as the Tigers take on Marie Reed, a school from the Westside of the city that they've never played before. It's a cool feeling getting to meet and play against a team they haven't faced before.

12:45pm -- Finally, lunch! Having played two soccer games, hula hooped, and more, the Tigers devour their healthy sandwiches, fruit and veggies provided by Revolution Foods.

1:10pm -- It's arts & crafts time -- and a chance for the Tigers to digest their food -- with the awesome volunteer squad from Wells Fargo. Aided by the company's volunteers, the kids use popsicle sticks and glue to create a framed photo of the team that was taken during the DC SCORES season. A memento to take with them!

1:35pm -- Final game of the day! The Tigers take on Tubman Elementary, another Westside school from a neighborhood 6.7 miles away from their school. Jamboree! truly brings different parts of DC together.

2:25pm -- Exhausted but still wearing those smiles, the Tigers begin the long walk across the field to their bus. Sure, their day didn't include the Penya Barcelonista soccer shooting station -- test your accuracy! -- or the November Project-led relay race station where the competition was fierce but the giggles of joy frequent all day long. But overall, they had experienced a lot, closing out the spring DC SCORES season with a bang. They got to hang out with D.C. United mascot Talon. They got to check out all of the DC SCORES teams' service-learning poster boards demonstrating the impact each program made in their community. And they got to do everything else we just mentioned.

The same can be said of the other 49 sites that had programming this spring, and those kids from New York who made the trip. The middle schoolers enjoyed a nonstop action-packed soccer tournament that included three divisions -- boys, girls and co-ed -- and 57 games including championships.

The largest Jamboree! in DC SCORES history wouldn't have been possible without the hundreds of volunteers -- many of whom stayed the entire day from setup until the last scraps of trash were picked up from the field after 3pm. A huge thank you to partners D.C. United, FAAR, Wells Fargo, Clark Construction, the Goldman Sachs volunteer group, November Project DC, Penya Barcelonista, the Edmund Burke School volunteers, Revolution Foods, and of course DJ RBI.

View all Jamboree! photos in our Flickr album.

Communities, partners come together for 18th Annual DC SCORES Fall Frenzy

Written by Jake Lloyd
Communications Manager
@jakelam2116

View photos on Flickr
View the Social Media Storify HERE

If anyone wasn't sure about DC SCORES' whole-child approach to building teams -- not just through sports, or the arts, or academics -- Saturday's Fall Frenzy proved it.

Here was the scene for the 18th annual outdoor mid-season celebration of the fall.

On the main soccer field (and up a hill, too) at Trinity Washington University, kids played eight soccer games -- one after another, the girls followed by the boys. Large throngs of family members and friends lined the sidelines often three-deep, cheering on the kids while dancing to DJ RBI's beats and posing for selfies with D.C. United mascot Talon.

Neon yellow shirts dotted the fields, a large cadre of volunteers new and old running the games, having fun with the kids, and doing some teaching as well.

When the horn blew, each of the 30-plus teams picked up their belongings and walked -- or ran or skipped -- down the hill to ... poetry and books!

Thanks to our longtime partner Junior League of Washington, every kid received a book. At the adjacent table, each child also wrote a spooky Halloween poem using the writing tools they've developed in creative-expression workshops since early September.

Poem and book in hand, kids then took a seat for a much-needed rest while getting their faces painted -- yet another station run entirely by engaged, energetic and, of course, artistic volunteers!

And then before heading back to the soccer field, kids loosened those leg muscles and got in all kinds of laughs crab-walking, three-legged racing and doing jumping jacks at the relay race station led by awesome free-fitness partner November Project.

But wait, there were two more stops before returning to game play -- the D.C. United and Penya Barcelonista shooting stations. At the D.C. United stop, kids tested out their leg strength trying to kick the ball as hard as possible into an inflatable moon-bounce type apparatus. At the Penya station led by a group of high school kids from the Edmund Burke School, kids were taken through accuracy drills as they aimed for points targets.

By the time teams returned to the soccer fields, they were well-rested, feeling artistic, full of giggles and more than prepared for another game.

Fall Frenzy wouldn't have been possible for more than 1,000 kids and hundreds of family and community members without the support and bodies provided by our many partners. Revolution Foods brought healthy lunches for everyone; DrinkMore Water donated all the water; D.C. United brought the always-popular Talon; the partners mentioned above ran all the booths; and approximately 125 volunteers -- including a huge group from American University -- made the day run smoothly from beginning setup at 5:45am to leaving the facility in perfect condition at 3pm.

And every kid, having experienced a bit of everything, was exhausted and ready for a nap!

20th DC SCORES Jamboree! wraps up action-packed season!

View the Jamboree! photo album on Flickr!

Nijah Armstrong witnessed a Jamboree! like she'd never seen before Saturday at Anacostia Park.

Nijah, now a senior at North Carolina A&T State University, last experienced the spring-culminating event as a Kelly Miller student in the mid-2000s. Back then, the Jamboree! was held at Trinity University.

Now, it's gotten so big, only places such as the large expanse of grass at Anacostia Park can contain it.

Nijah was one of dozens of DC SCORES alumni who came by or volunteered at Saturday's event to celebrate the spring season. She witnessed  156 soccer games and nonstop activity -- facepainting, relay races, arts and crafts, the presentation of 44 service-learning posters, DJ RBI spinning music all day, and more.

If you experienced every aspect of the Jamboree!, you covered some serious miles.

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After two and a half hours of setup, the day began a little after 8am with the City Cup elementary school championship games. The boys game featured Aiton and Capital City; the girls featured Seaton and Moten.

Upon the completion of the games, emcee extraordinaire Charity Blackwell brought all the schools together for a cheer -- it got loud! -- before everyone dispersed.

Soon, a grassy area the size of at least four football fields was covered with kids in their DC SCORES uniforms. Let the action begin.

Fourteen -- yes, 14! -- soccer games took place at a time. There were eight elementary games ongoing while middle school boys, girls and co-ed tournament games were played nonstop, one right after the other. This wouldn't have been possible if not for the tireless volunteer referees who oversaw dozens of games throughout the day.

When kids weren't playing soccer, they headed to the shade of the field's perimeter where they partook in a wealth of activities.

Volunteers from some tremendous DC SCORES partners -- Clark Construction, AmeriHealth, Hogan Lovells US LLP, Accenture, Pyxera Global, Edmund Burke School, DC Bocce and others -- did everything from facepainting ("Messi" is always a popular request) to running relay races, to dancing with the kids (there's always plenty to learn there!) to helping serve delicious and healthy Revolution Foods lunches!

Before their next game, kids headed to the Penya Barcelonista shooting skills net where they worked on their kicking accuracy with our amazing longtime partners from the fan club. They then visited D.C. United mascot Talon for some last-minute advice before getting loose with dancing, entertaining "Topspin," the mascot of the Washington Kastles tennis team!

Of course, it was hot and it was humid, so this marathon of activity wouldn't have been possible without water. Lots and lots of water. This was made possible by an extremely generous donation of 70 water jugs from DrinkMore Water.

And when there was the infrequent injury or cramp, Sport and Spine Rehab was on hand to take care of those in need.

Check how huge #DCSJamboree is! Such a great turn out on such a beautiful day! #soccer #DCSCORES

A video posted by DC SCORES (@dc_scores) on May 30, 2015 at 9:30am PDT

Soccer was the favorite activity of the day, but it didn't overwhelm the other aspects of the spring season that were celebrated. A casual look at the service-learning posters demonstrated the incredible impact DC SCORES teams made in their communities this spring.

H.D. Cooke and Barnard won the elementary school service-learning contest. H.D. Cooke's students ran a successful anti-bullying campaign in their school and on Saturday explained to staff members and volunteers, step by step, how exactly they did it. Barnard closely followed the four-part service-learning process -- discovery, research, implementation and reflection -- to orchestrate a highly successful trash cleanup of their school.

Chavez Prep won the middle school service-learning prize for a project that hopefully yields future results. They spent the spring advocating for a soccer field at Bruce Monroe Park near their school. As evidenced by their skills on the field -- where the girls barely lost the championship game to Lincoln -- a new or improved green space would only help them to grow.

But really, growth was on display all day Saturday. From the opening whistle of the City Cup games to the final penalty kick of the middle school games around 2:45pm, kids demonstrated just how much they've improved on the soccer field and as teammates and leaders during the DC SCORES year.

And they -- and family members, volunteers and partners -- had loads of fun, too.

Thank you to everyone who made the 20th DC SCORES Jamboree! a raging success!

Team effort makes largest event in DC SCORES history a rousing success

Brightwood Education Campus shows off their
service-learning board at Jamboree!.

Upon reaching the edge of the expansive grassy area by the middle school co-ed soccer field, one person after another had a version of the same question Saturday afternoon.

Where can I find X school?

Where do I sign in to volunteer?

It wasn't that anything was poorly marked. Simply put, the 19th Annual DC SCORES Jamboree! was so big that if you stood by the middle school soccer fields at one end of Anacostia Park, the blue tents for registration, the DJ, lunch and activity booths seemed a mile away.

Between them were 16 soccer fields, which hosted game after game beginning with the City Cup championships at 8am and not ending until Cardozo defeated Kelly Miller on penalty kicks in the co-ed title game after 3pm.

In all, 178 soccer games were played during seven hours. Think about that for a moment -- 178!! To keep all the teams hydrated, DrinkMore Water made a very generous donation of 70 bottles!

And soccer was just one aspect of the action-packed day. Buoyed by an incredibly energetic and flexible band of 136 volunteers -- including 25 program alumni -- and partners including Revolution Foods, 826 DC, the Foundation For Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (FAAR), Penya Barcelonista, 826 DC and Modell's Sporting Goods, we provided 1,500 students representing 47 schools and their families with the most action-packed event in the organization's 20-year history.

One of the service-learning boards each school created
to demonstrate the impact of their project.

The day started with the City Cup title games, which were played as all the other schools trudged across the grassy area toward the music being played by DJ RBI. After two exciting games -- the Burrville girls defeated Seaton and Capital City boys beat Burrville -- all four teams received trophies and medals from Executive Director Amy Nakamoto and special guest Councilmember David Grosso.

Then, on opposite ends of the park, all the elementary and middle schools gathered and shouted out their school names. The full-fledged Jamboree! was underway. A minute later, the green expanse was covered by kids in T-shirts of every color with their school names as they flocked to their first activity.

In between soccer games, elementary school kids had plenty to do at a handful of stations including:

• Reviewing the colorful and creative boards each school made to celebrate their service-learning project. Late in the afternoon, winners were announced for the best boards, with Marie Reed and Brightwood the elementary school service-learning champions, and Brightwood and KIPP KEY the middle school winners.
• Learning about and then creating healthy yogurt parfaits with Revolution Foods to fuel themselves for more games.
• Working together to create fun and silly stories with 826DC by having each member of a team write a line.
• Practicing their shooting accuracy with Penya Barcelonista during a skills challenge. 
• Receiving bags filled with books thanks to our generous donors from FAAR and the National Home Library Association, and World Cup sticker books from Modell's. 
• Doing the hula hoop and dancing to whatever song DJ RBI played next.
• Getting their faces decorated -- always a favorite! -- by volunteers including energetic groups from Capital One and CliftonLarsonAllen.
• And, of course, eating a healthy lunch provided by Revolution Foods

Parents received giveaways, too, including tye-dye shirts from FAAR and coupons from Modell's.

Kelly Miller had a great Jamboree! soccer tournament
and showed tremendous sportsmanship throughout. 

Meanwhile, game after game was played at the middle school fields where three tournaments were played. Each team was guaranteed at least three games, and many played more -- walking from one field to the next with no time in between. On a hot day, the kids representing 17 middle schools demonstrated just how physically fit they are and how much they love soccer, and when there were minor injuries Sport and Spine Rehab was on the scene.

The skill level was high, too, as teams played evenly matched games -- penalty-kick shootouts were a theme -- until the Capital City girls and Brightwood boys defeated Lincoln in a pair of close games preceding Cardozo's win over Kelly Miller to close out the day.

The Barnard Elementary School DC SCORES
team with some of their fans.

By then, everyone was exhausted. As kids, their faces decorated in facepaint, boarded their buses, they were ready for a nap. But they didn't just leave with their tired legs.

In addition to the many giveaways they received, each school left Anacostia Park with a team photo that the kids decorated and framed during the day. It served as a reminder that Jamboree! was just the conclusion to the DC SCORES season -- one which is still fresh in the minds of 1,500 youth and their coaches.

"They have fallen in love with the sport of soccer," Barnard Elementary School coach Erin Druelinger said after Jamboree! of her team, "and more importantly, have become role models at our school."

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Read all the Tweets from the 19th Annual DC SCORES Jamboree! below in our Storify!

DC SCORES Fall Frenzy serves multiple purposes for program participants and coaches

The Burrville Eagles.

As Tom Mason stood watching his C.W. Harris Elementary School Vikings soccer team play yet another game, he thought back to the previous year.

Only three of Mason's students were able to attend the 2012 DC SCORES Fall Frenzy. While the trio had loads of fun, the youth also took away tangible benefits from the event.

"They ended up being some of my best players last year because they were like, 'Wow, we've got to step it up. We can do this!'" Mason said.

"Seeing all the other teams and the different talent levels, they get to see different tricks and different things other teams are doing so they get a better understanding of the game."

This year, Mason had a much larger group of Vikings and was confident they would come away from the 16th Annual Fall Frenzy Saturday at Trinity Washington University with a greater understanding of the game and what they need to do to get better.

"I'm able to teach them, 'Look at how they were passing, look at how they were shooting,'" Mason said of playing against a handful of other teams from throughout the District.

"'We might have to play a team like this. You know how good they are? We gotta focus better, we gotta get on this if we want to be as good as them.'"

That motivation to improve was just one aspect of DC SCORES' fall celebration for hundreds of students representing 30 elementary schools. Mixed in with the soccer games were all kinds of fun and goofy activities.

It was a family fun day that went on and on and on -- much to the kids' liking.

With DJ RBI blaring songs both past and present, the corner of the field he occupied from 9am-2:30pm often became a grass-laden dance floor. Teams even took a breather during their soccer games to do the Cha Cha Slide.

The main field at Trinity contained a flurry of soccer activity, with six games played simultaneously -- one after another. Up a small hill, three more fields featured game after game. First, the girls would play, followed by the boys. Then a horn would sound, and teams would move on to their next game or activity.

The activity stations were down the hill from the DJ booth, and were no less fun than the soccer -- often involving the sport, too. At one station, volunteers led a relay race. A student would start by doing something such as somersaults or running backward to one end; they would then receive a paper instruction from a volunteer to dance, spin or cartwheel back -- you get the point.

Adjacent to the relay races, kids practiced their shooting accuracy on a big net set up by partner Penya Barcelonista. When done with that, they tried scoring on a real goalkeeper at another big goal -- putting their practice into action (before, of course, they headed back up the hill for game action) ... but not before exercising their minds and creative sides at a Halloween bag-decorating station and a poetry writing table.

This is what a student from Imagine Hope Community Charter School wrote about the different aspects of autumn:

I am something that falls
I am something that you eat
I am something you love
I am something you drink
I am something that falls from the tree
Who am I?


In between activities, teams took turns visiting the Revolution Foods truck where wraps, vegetables and fruit provided a healthy lunch to keep kids energized well into the afternoon. Participants stayed hydrated as the weather slowly warmed thanks to a generous donation from long-time partner DrinkMore Water. And all minor injuries were healed quickly thanks to Sport and Spine Rehab's expert team.

The event also featured a special guest, as Talon, D.C. United's mascot, made an appearance and was immediately swarmed for photo opportunities by anyone and everyone who caught sight of the big bird.

The Fall Frenzy was a great chance, too, for parents who work during the week to see their children in action on the soccer field. Parents filled out surveys about the program's impact and took home giveaways and coupons from our partner Modell's Sporting Goods.

And they walked away feeling proud of how much their kids have grown within their DC SCORES teams.

"She thinks I'm too hard on her but I'm very excited (watching)," said Gregory Hawkins, whose daughter Taylor is a fourth-grader at Anne Beers Elementary School. "I just like to see the fact that she takes interest in playing sports."

The Fall Frenzy would not have been possible or run so smoothly -- from nine soccer fields, to six booths, to the lunch truck, to the parent tent -- without the largest showing of volunteers ever for such an event. Decked out in neon-yellow shirts, with a special design for the referees, nearly 100 individuals spread out across the the complex to make a difference for DC youth.

Volunteer referee Justin Feltman.

Justin Feltman has refereed elementary school soccer games all fall and was happy to do six or seven more Saturday and get to see new teams play.

"Win or lose, it seemed like everyone was pretty happy, which is awesome because an important part of sportsmanship is being able to handle losing well," Feltman said after reffing his final game. "It was just great to be a part of that kind of environment and hang out with the kids, get to know them a little bit."

As the music died down and 30 teams in an array of DC SCORES T-shirts walked up the hill toward the awaiting buses, participants reflected on an action-packed day.

"It didn't matter if we won or lost. We were having fun!" an Imagine Hope student said.

"Getting my face painted!" Malik from Thomson said of his favorite part of the Fall Frenzy.

"Playing soccer!" added Thomson midfielder and forward Jason.

Added Kevin of Marie Reed: "This is my first year coming to the Fall Frenzy. What I like about it is going against other schools and working together as a team."

As Mason can attest, that experience will likely pay off for many teams as the DC SCORES fall soccer and poetry season heads toward its final month.

Over 1,500 people enjoy action-packed day at 18th DC SCORES Jamboree! celebration

The 18th Annual DC SCORES Jamboree! was epitomized by its moments.

Perhaps none better defined the June 1 celebration of the spring season than the one in the aftermath of the City Cup championship soccer games that kicked off the event. 

Before the Burrville Elementary School girls team received the trophy for winning a seventh consecutive title, a girl clad in her red DC SCORES uniform stood up and -- in front of DC Councilmembers Tommy Wells and David Grosso -- said that all participants from the four teams that played in the games were winners. She then walked over to the seated Marie Reed Elementary girls and the Wheatley Education Campus boys, giving out high fives.

Thus began a day that involved winning and trophies, but left all participants smiling -- and tired -- after several hours of soccer games, facepainting and much more.

The Jamboree! was, by far, the largest-scale DC SCORES event in the organization's 19-year history. Over 1,450 youth representing 45 schools joined hundreds of parents, dozens of volunteers, and a handful of awesome program partners at Anacostia Park. 

To give an idea of just how large the event was, 128 elementary and middle school soccer games were played on 14 fields. And that was just the soccer.

There were also:

• Volunteers from DC SCORES partner Sephora running a professional facepainting booth throughout the day.

• Longtime partner Penya Barcelonista running a soccer shooting station where kids from each school split into three teams and tested out their accuracy. The prize for those most on-target? Awesome Penya scarves!

• Hundreds DC SCORES parents watching their kids play soccer, then filling out surveys about the program and receiving water bottles and bags from Modell's Sporting Goods in return. Many parents don't get to see their children in action during the season, making Saturday a great opportunity to finally watch them proudly wear their school uniforms.
  

• The service-learning display and contest. Saturday marked the culmination of a season not just defined by soccer, but by every DC SCORES school creating and implementing a project to better their school or surrounding community. Each school brought a poster board visually documenting their project, and staff members voted these the top three projects:

• Kelly Miller Middle School won Most Creative Project for visiting a retirement home and teaching the elderly how to use technology (blog).

• Bancroft Elementary School won Project with the Greatest Impact for raising over $1,000 for homeless animals. 

• Seaton Elementary School won Best Board Design for not only creating a beautiful array of pictures from their school garden, but bringing fresh radishes, chard and other vegetables to display!

• Members from the U.S. Soccer Athlete Council coming out on the 100th anniversary of soccer in the United States to run soccer relay races and drills with kids. Former U.S. Women's National Team members including Angela Hucles, Heather Mitts and others had a great time teaching DC SCORES students skills and playing games with them.

• Revolution Foods, the event's lunch provider, teaming up with DC Hunger Solutions to lead a station where students created nutritious snacks -- such as a yogurt parfait with peaches and berries -- to keep them feeling good during the long, hot day of soccer.

• DC SCORES partner The Century Council giving away to both kids and parents cool sunglasses, T-shirts, and bilingual literature about the dangers of underage drinking and drinking while driving. 

• And, of course, DJ RBI spinning tunes to help keep everyone energized on a blazing-hot day under the sun, and Sport and Spine Rehab expert trainers available for anyone who needed medical attention.

Did I mention the 128 soccer games? 

They began with the City Cup championship games at 8:15 a.m. The Burrville Eagles girls team -- a DC SCORES dynasty -- listened to the constant urgings of "PASS! PASS!" from their coach Daryl Forte and used teamwork to defeat Reed in the girls game. In the boys game, Reed -- DC SCORES' flagship school where the program began in 1994 -- defeated first-time championship game participant Wheatley.

All four teams received trophies from Executive Director Amy Nakamoto, and special guests Wells and Grosso hung medals around the students' necks. 

The championship games complete, the Jamboree! kicked off for everyone -- with seven elementary school games and seven middle schools games played simultaneously for over 5 hours. Teams were guaranteed three games, and some played as many as seven. The games were all refereed by DC SCORES volunteers, who could be spotted in their neon yellow T-shirts all over the park grounds throughout the entire event.

After losing two of their first three games, the MacFarland boys -- playing as a DC SCORES team for the final time -- rallied to win two consecutive games. Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson, which is also closing at the end of the school year, had a magical four-game streak that ended just short of the boys championship, won for a third straight time by Paul Public Charter School.

On the middle school girls side, Capital City Public Charter School participants thought their day was over after a loss and began walking to the parking lot. But it wasn't. The tournament's double-elimination format gave them a chance to keep playing, and they did just that all the way to the championship to cap off the school's first year as a DC SCORES program participant. 

By 3pm, the music died down, the last games were whistled complete, the final trophies were rewarded, and kids from 45 schools boarded buses content and exhausted from a day that perfectly encapsulated everything the DC SCORES spring season is about and included many of the people, partners and volunteers who make it all possible.

Read a chronological recap of the day on Twitter by visiting the #Jamboree13 hashtag

New schools show commitment to self-expression and performance on second night of DC SCORES Poetry Slam!

When the DC SCORES program goes into a new school, it's naturally a process to get participants interested in our unique, three-pronged model of soccer, poetry and service-learning. 

The soccer part isn't difficult. Who doesn't love to kick a ball around and score goals? The poetry aspect, on the other hand, can be a challenge. Poetry? Self-expression? Many elementary school students have never even heard such words before DC SCORES. 

So it's expected and accepted that when new schools participate in their first Poetry Slam! -- tasked with memorizing three poems to perform under the bright lights, in front of hundreds of other students, families and community members -- they might struggle a little bit and show some stage fright.

Until Thursday.

Six schools new to the program this fall participated in the second night of the 15th Annual DC SCORES Poetry Slam! -- funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Humanities Council of Washington, DC -- and put on a show for the ages, led by J.C. Nalle Elementary. 

Nalle surprised the near-capacity audience at H.D. Woodson, emcee KoM, DJ RBI, and, possibly, the panel of judges with a well-scripted performance about making a difference that was equal parts history lesson and entertaining. 

With each elementary school child dressed up in a unique outfit to illustrate that no one's the same, the students chanted in unison, "I'ma make a difference, I'ma make a difference what?" Then one student after another took the microphone, approached the front of the stage, and described how a United States president had made a difference. 

This was not a partisan performance, either. Franklin D. Roosevelt was cited for the New Deal; Lincoln was cited for the Emancipation Proclamation; George H.W. Bush was cited for the Americans with Disabilities Act; Clinton was cited for his commitment to education. In all, more than 10 presidents were mentioned, as the Nalle team educated the audience. 

They followed that up by stepping forward individually to describe what they would do if president.

"If I was president, I would make healthy foods cheaper and (bad) foods more expensive so the average American can live longer."

I would fight pollution, another student said, "Because no one should have to breath in unclear air."

At the end of the night, after hearing their name called, the Nalle students ebulliently overtook the brightly lit stage to hold up the huge Golden Mic trophy and breath in the fresh, clean air of an incredible victory.

It was incredible because of the competition they faced during the 17-team performance, capping off two nights of a record 35 performances featuring schools from seven of the District's eight wards. 

Jefferson Middle School, another new school and the program's lone Ward 6 school, couldn't have represented better for DC's largest ward with a powerful musical performance about stereotypes that won first place among middle schools. 

Standing in a line, students rattled off one stereotype after another:

"Kids don't care about the environment."

"Old people can't drive."

"All black people like chicken."

Then, in unison, the students belted out: "Stop judging people/Stop the labels/Stop stereotypes."

That was just the beginning of the show. 

Introduced as a Grammy-winning artist -- which she sure sounded like -- Sandy T. performed a beautiful song about reaching for your dreams and navigating the obstacle course of life. When she sat down afterward, she got a bear hug and a huge smile from the young boy next to her. Sandy's performance was followed by an energetic rap from Julia B., who at the end of the evening was presented the Shine Award for the most outstanding middle school individual performance.

By the conclusion of schools' performances, one thing was clear: bullying will not be tolerated at DC SCORES schools. The night represented an anti-bullying campaign, as several schools brought the issue to the forefront, give the audience insight into the minds of both bullies and their victims and how the problem can be dealt with.

Four-time defending elementary school champion Arts and Technology Academy (second place) came on stage wearing shirts that said "Bullying" with a red line through them. The back of their shirts, when they lined up, read "Stop Bullying." 

"When you're bully free," the students said together, "there's no limit to what you can be."

And then, in one of the neatest moments of the night, ATA closed its performance with pairs of students walking up to each other and shaking hands before descending the stage.

Chavez Parkside (second place, middle schools) and Johnson Middle also stood up against bullying, acting out both sides of the matter -- the bullies who are taking out their frustration from being bullied themselves, and the victims who are afraid to walk to school. 

At the end of the night, it was evident that no student from any of the schools was afraid of being on stage and expressing their feelings. Every school -- whether around since 1994 like Anne Beers Elementary; or new to the program like Nalle, Davis, M.C. Terrell and Orr elementary schools -- embraced the opportunity to write poetry and then perform it front of a large audience. 

This courage started with the very first performance, when Wheatley's Jovahn C. read a poem about his father's infidelity, and continued throughout the night until Orr's team of just four students stood proudly center stage and let their voices be heard:

"This is how we do it/This is how we do it/a go, a go, a go Jaguars!"

Below is the full list of winners from the second night of the 15th Annual DC SCORES Poetry Slam!

Elementary schools 
1st place -- J.C. Nalle Elementary School
2nd place -- Arts and Technology Academy
3rd place -- Burrville Elementary School
Spirit Award -- Wheatley Education Campus
Shine Award -- DeAndre W., Perry Street Prep Public Charter School

Middle schools
1st place -- Jefferson Middle School
2nd place -- Cesar Chavez Public Charter School - Parkside
3rd place -- Kelly Miller Middle School
Spirit Award -- Johnson Middle School
Shine Award -- Julia B., Jefferson