community
THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE
April 27 - May 3, 2016
Page B-2
Kids Opening Day at Comerica, a grand slam of an event By Paul Warner
The Academy also has a dance fusion class, where students learn African dance, jazz, hip-hop and ballet dance styles.
Special to the Michigan Chronicle
Timbuktu Academy became involved in the Detroit Tiger’s kids opening day this on Sunday, April 4 via a much elcomed grant award.
Shamaya Moses, a 13-yearold student from Detroit, took in her first Tigers game at Kids Opening Day, but when asked if she had a interest in baseball she replied with an honest “no.”
As Timbuktu Academy principal Cha-Rhonda Edgerson explains; “Our third grade teacher Becky Burton wrote a grant for the Building Healthy Communities Grant, and as part of the grant we where chosen to be participants in this opening day.” Kids Opening Day gave 85 Timbuktu students and 200 students overall between the ages of 5 and 14 a chance to exercise in center field at Comerica Park with Tigers training staff and team mascot, Paws, just moments before the Tigers first pitch against the Cleveland Indians. The eager, young participants received backpacks and tee shirts and enjoyed lunch before watching the Tigers lose to the Indians 6-3 from section 337 in the upper deck of the park. Kids Opening Day’s purpose is to promote healthy lifestyles for youth, including exercise and diet, and creating habits that kids will take into their adult lives. Timbuktu student Aliaya Dumas already has an exercise plan in place. “I do push ups, and jumping jacks.” For the Academy, the opening
The event inspired her though and encouraged her to change her exercise habits. “It was fun, it made me want to exercise more.” She does exercise though. “I exercise sometimes, but not on a regular basis.” The only disappointment of the day was the Tigers loss to the Indians, which gave the Indians a three game sweep of the series. The Tigers have lost four in a row and seven out of their last nine.
day regiment is an extension of exercise programs already in place.
But the kids saw exactly why it’s good to exercise and work towards having a healthy body. Both of the games starting pitchers left the game early with injuries. Indians starter Carlos Carrasco left the game after jamming his leg covering first base on an infield grounder, and Tigers starter Shane Green left 15 minutes later after busting a blister on his throwing hand. A healthy body will get them back in the game sooner and help make the injuries less severe.
“[Opening day’s exercise program] was kind of a continuation of what we already started at school. We are a pretty healthy school.” The Academy has a healthy kids club which walks before school, with a goal of walking the same number of miles it would take to get to Africa. The kids club will culminate with a walk-a-thon on May 19 that Building Healthy Communities is a part of.
Detroit’s University Prep High School debate team makes history Michigan Chronicle reports
Two young women from University Prep High School’s debate team have made history. Tamara Morrison and Tiera Colvin are the first-ever African American women’s team to win the National Association of Urban Debate League’s National Championship, placing first in a field of 39 teams from around the nation. The tournament was held at the City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University on April 14 to April 17. The competition brought together the top urban debate teams in the country, including
schools from Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Denver, Dallas, St. Louis, Houston, Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, Atlanta, Baltimore, New York City and Boston as well as Detroit. Morrison and Colvin are also the first African American young women’s team to receive an invitation to the association’s Tournament of Champions hosted at the University of Kentucky at the end of April. Representing the Detroit Urban Debate League, U Prep’s Morrison and Colvin posted a 5-1 win/loss record in six pre-
liminary debates before advancing to the elimination debates on Sunday, April 17 where they won all four elimination debates before besting Downtown Magnet HS from Los Angeles in the final debate. “At U Prep Schools our mission is to provide students with the courage to pursue a future full of opportunities, and what these two young ladies have achieved is not only courageous, but they have expanded their own horizons for the future,” said Mark Ornstein, CEO of University Prep Schools and Detroit 90/90. Ornstein continued, “We are extremely proud of Tiera and Tamara and the incredible
dedication of Sharon Hopkins, U Prep’s debate coach. The success that we have had with the debate team is nothing short of a Disney movie, where the underdog works hard and accomplishes amazing feats.” U Prep, coached by Ms. Hopkins and U Prep alumni Rayvon Dean, won the national urban debate championship in 2014, marking this year as the second time in three years that a high school from Detroit has won this prestigious championship. The Tournament of Champions is the weekend of April 29 and the young women’s final debate practice is Tuesday, April 26 at
U Prep High School. Both Morrison and Colvin have been offered scholarships to continue their debate careers in college. Known as one of Detroit’s longest-standing tuition-free and non-profit public charter school systems, University Prep Schools encompasses two districts and seven campuses serving K-12 students from all corners of the city and beyond. U Prep’s campuses were built by the Thompson Educational Foundation whose initiatives are focused on creating educational opportunities for Detroit youth.
Coming Spring 2016
Announcing the Michigan Chronicle/Talmer S.W.A.G. Scholarship Finalists The special edition of ACHIEVE will display the finalists for the Michigan Chronicle/Talmer S.W.A.G. Scholarship Award. Stay tuned to find out who won a scholarship.
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