*Madalin Gomez and Ingrid Melendez reading poetry and discussing DC SCORES*

I attended a breakfast meeting this morning for DC SCORES, and it was really moving — and it made me further grateful to be partnering with this organization. A couple of hundred supports gathered downtown to network and meet two young, smart kids who have seen personal successes participating with the non-profit.

Madalin Gomez came up and presented a poem she wrote about DC SCORES, and Ingrid Melendez, who participated with DC SCORES from 3rd to 8th grade. Ingrid spoke about her involvement with the non-profit, and then we saw an inspiring video about Ingrid and her successes as a result of DC SCORES. It was really moving.

See the impact of DC SCORES through the story of Ingrid Melendez, an alumna of the program who is the first from her family to go to college. Read more about Ingrid here: http://bit.ly/AlumniIngrid ... and get involved with DC SCORES here: http://dcscores.org/

he group has been working with Powell students on poetry this past month, teaching the kids to play with words and language as they learn how to express themselves. From a recent blog post on the DC SCORES blog:

During the past month we have learned some of the basics of poetry writing. Coach Matt and I have taught about lines and stanzas, descriptive language, similes and now, rhyming. During our descriptive language lesson we asked poets to write about imaginary worlds. Here are some of my personal favorites:

Bad Luck World
This world is bad luck
It tastes horrible
It looks ugly
It smells like horrible food
But hey, at least it’s quiet

Poem of My World
It smells like fresh air
It feels so exciting
Because we could go on every roller-coaster for free
But it tastes like metal
It’s loud of people screaming from roller-coasters

Also recently, Councilmember Brandon Todd joined DC United, the USSF (United States Soccer Foundation) and others at Capital City Public Charter School to celebrate a new mini soccer pitch at the school.

If you want to attend a DC SCORES game and cheer on the kids, the next local game is Friday, 10/23 at 4pm at Hart Middle School, as they play against Truesdell.

The BIG game is coming up on Saturday, October 24th at 9am-2:30pm at Trinity Washington University. Called Fall Frenzy, it’s the premier game of the fall season with 1,000 elementary school children. There will be soccer matches (naturally) as well as food, relay races, face-painting, arts and crafts and more. It’s a great chance to cheer on your local teams! More info on this PDF you can view / download.

To find out more about DC SCORES, check out their website, where you can sign up to volunteer at a neighborhood school, donate to the program, host a small fundraiser for the organization and more!