Jamboree 2010 Highlights

Last Friday our 2010 Jamboree was held at Dick's Sporting Good's Park.  In recognition of the 2010 FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa, the theme of this years Jamboree was "World Cup".  Each team was assigned a different country to represent at the games, and in World Cup tradition, captains exchanged the flags of their country at the start of each match.  One of our spectators, Randy Strong from iVB Network, was kind enough to capture a video of the night.  I invite you to take a minute and check it out.

Students at Brown Visit the Franciscan Sisters Home

On Monday, May 17, students from Brown Elementary took a moment out of their busy schedules to pay a visit to the nearby Franciscan Sisters home for the elderly. Guided by their enthusiastic writing coaches Greg Toston and Amanda Swift, Brown's poet athletes decided they would give back to their community by raising money in order to purchase small pots and plants, inscribe their poetry on the pots, and personally deliver these wonderful gifts to tenants of the Franciscan Sisters home.

In a truly memorable afternoon, the students walked their poem-plants to the home and arrived just in time for dinner! For nearly 45 minutes they visited with about 30 members of the community, reading their poems, discussing their participation in SCORES and simply spreading joy! The energy in the room was contagious.

We are so proud of the students at Brown for coming up with this idea and putting it into action. Thanks to the Franciscan Sisters home for being such gracious hosts!

Graffiti Education at Cowell Elementary

On Tuesday, May 11 the Poet Athletes at Cowell Elementary school had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the graffiti problem facing their neighborhood. Donna from Denver Partners Against Graffiti came by the school to give a presentation about graffiti in Denver, and discuss with the students what they can do to spread awareness and clean things up! We learned some interesting facts about graffiti:

• The city of Denver alone spends over $1 million in graffiti clean up each year
• We are all forced to pay for the graffiti problem because it comes out of our taxes
• There is a difference between graffiti-vandalism and graffiti-art:
• Vandalism is graffiti that takes place without permission and is illegal.
• If you call 311, the Denver Information hotline, you can receive an application form and request a graffiti clean up crew to come out and remove graffiti from your home or property free of charge.

Thanks Donna for stopping by Cowell, and thanks to the Denver Partners Against Graffiti for all your hard work in keeping our neighborhoods clean!

 Donna from Denver Partners Against Graffiti answering questions at Cowell Elementary

Newlon Helps Their Community

On Monday, May 4 the Boys and Girls Teams at Newlon Elementary spent the afternoon cleaning up their school as part of the Writing for the Community service project. With coaches Luis Munoz and Emily Fenske leading the charge, the students spent over an hour filling trash bags with all sorts of nasty stuff they found on the grass, on the playground, and even hidden in some of the bushes surrounding the school. The students' energy and efforts in cleaning up the school were truly amazing, and the grounds surrounding Newlon are certainly new and improved.

The students also plan on contributing to a local community garden by helping till the soil, put down seeds, and paint a fence!

Great work Newlon, thanks for all your efforts! And welcome back Coach Luis Munoz, you were certainly missed.