America SCORES National Poetry Slam Pt. 1

A busy few weeks of programming for LA SCORES was capped off this past weekend as two of our poet-athletes flew to New York to participate in the America SCORES National Poetry Slam. Sabrinna C., a 5th grader from Charnock Rd. Elementary, and Edgar D., a 5th grader from Braddock Dr. Elementary were selected to perform their original poetry along with 25 other SCORES poet-athletes at the National Poetry Slam in the Big Apple.

The weekend was chalked full of special events and sight seeing for the kids as well as hours of rehearsal and practice for the big night on Monday. During the weekend, SCORES participants from all over the country had a chance to meet their East coast, West coast and Mid-West peers. Many instantly become close friends as they spent all hours of the day together playing soccer, reading and hearing each others poetry, offering critique and support and engaging in some of the most fierce pillow fights New York hotel rooms have ever been witness to.

The weekend events included a picnic and soccer game on the Grand Field in Central Park, a visit to Times Square, a trip to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty, a special performance by spoken word poet Mayda Del Valle and a trip to the New York Stock Exchange where a few lucky SCORES kids were able to take part in the closing bell ceremony on April 20th.

The entire weekend was amazing but nothing could compare to the greatness of seeing our kids under the lights as they performed their own poems in front of a capacity crowd in the NYSE. To put it simply, THEY ROCKED!!! I have never felt so proud of anything as I did seeing all our kids do so well and have so much fun as they did that night.

Keep a look out for more stories and pictures from the actual Poetry Slam event itself in the days to come.

And to WATCH OUR KIDS AT THE NYSE CLOSING BELL CEREMONY click this link!!

GO SCORES!!!