Meet Asli - National Slam Poet

Meet Asli, the 5th grader from Maple Elementary who will be representing Seattle at the America SCORES National Poetry Slam! The National Slam will be held in New York City on April 11th, 2016. Which means Asli is getting on a plane and heading east in just a short time! We'd like to share a bit about this Poet-Athlete who is about to have an exciting adventure!

Asli comes from a large family, she has 4 sisters and 3 brothers. As one of eight, a lot of her time spent out of school is with her siblings and helping her mother. She's been in SCORES two years and her favorite thing is spending time with her teachers/coaches and teammates!

For her trip to NYC she is most excited about getting on a plane and performing on stage! She's still a bit nervous about performing and meeting new people but we're sure she'll do wonderfully!

She really likes her school, it is different from other schools, because they don't have walls (it's an open concept school), or uniforms and she has a lot of friends! Her favorite subject recently switched from math to social studies, right now they are learning about the Boston Massacre and the American Revolution. 

"My family is crazy and weird but we get along" -we can all relate to that Asli! 

She likes all kinds of music and food but when we spoke she said that one of her favorite artists right now is Becky G, and the food she would want is pizza. We talked about the giant slices of famous NY pizza she should try while she's there. 

Speaking of which YOU can help make sure she gets to try that giant pizza and has other fun opportunities during her trip as well by contributing to NYCforAsli 

And of course, we'd love to share Asli's poem with you: 

"Life"  
Life is a place     
With all kinds of faces who all have different races     
Life is a prize, but how come everybody dies?     
Without life where would we go?     
Where would we be?     
Would we be under the sea?     
Life is where the successful kids turn into smart nerds at least that’s what I heard     
Life is a place where people come and go     
You might think life is fast, but no     
Life is where we are now     
Right this moment we are in LIFE!

This isn't the last we'll hear from Asli as we prep for this great journey east! Stay tuned for more updates on Asli and the America SCORES National Poetry Slam 2016! 

Poetry Wakanadas

During the Winter Season, SCORES looks a little different, a little more...little :) 

Our JR SCORES Programs are over half-way through their season. This programming is aimed at students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade who would like to find out what soccer and writing poetry is all about. For many this is their first time playing on a team or writing a poem. 

JR SCORES is also unique in the curriculum used for these first forays into writing. Our JRs are still young 5-8 years old and so we try to engage them in writing through stories. Last year they met a monkey named Zoomba, and learned about sharing, team work and creative problem solving while using poems to help introduce themselves to their new friend or to share what it means to be nice. This year they are apprentices of the great Poetry Wakanda (or one who posses magic power), Onida the Owl. She comes from a long line of wakandas who make the lives of their fellow owls more interesting, more colorful and more heart-felt through poetry. 

Meet Onida, the Poetry Wakanda

Recently however, the other owls have been losing their interest in poetry in favor of this strange box with pictures and talking that doesn't make them use their imaginations. It is up to our JR SCORES Wakanda apprentices to help Onida write poems so wonderful and full of magic that the owls turn away from the TV and back to the poetry they used to love so much! 

Our apprentices are also learning how to dribble, pass and play together in their school gyms! Check out our pictures below, poet-athletes working on poems about "big feelings" in their heart charts and super powers!