New York Poets Announced!

On December 10th, more than 20 talented athlete-poets had the courage to step up to the mic and perform an original poem for a packed house of teammates, coaches, family and friends.
Now, more than a month later, three students have been chosen to represent San Francisco at the America SCORES National Poetry SLAM! in New York City!

The first student to find out was Nisrine Rahmaoui, a 4th grader from Redding Elementary. Nisrine was disbelieving and excited when she read her invitation letter. She talked about how great all the other finalists were, and how she never expected to win. Then the questions came: could she tell her friends? What about her mom? Could she and other athlete-poets do make-overs in the hotel? Would they get to fly first-class? (Yes, yes, sure, and probably not.)

That afternoon, Nisrine shared the news with her coaches, site supervisor, a few favorite teachers and close friends... but no one was more excited than her mom, who had already considered buying a suitcase, "just in case."

Nisrine's mom celebrates the news!

The Rahmaoui family and site supervisor Chris pose with Nisrine's invitation letter.

Next, a few members of the SCORES crew headed over to Marshall Elementary, to give the happy news to 5th grader José Camara. There they found José playing-what else-soccer with his SCORES teammates. Marshall coaches Aaron, Alberto and Beverly called José over to read his letter, and everyone burst into cheers as José read that he would be going to New York. Those cheers were whispers compared to the screams when Jose's classmates found out- they surrounded him in a giant pile of hugs and then chased him around the playground as he ran to tell his friends! 

José reads his letter.

Coach Alberto, Coach Beverly and Coach Aaron cheer ¡GO SCORES, GO JOSÉ!

José tries to escape a crowd of excited fans! 

Finally, Sergio Lopez of Bret Harte got the great news that he was going to New York. Sergio was really excited and gave big coaches to Coaches Afu, Marco, Yuri and Marty!

Sergio poses with a ref at a SCORES game day!

Stay tuned for more about each poet and the New York Slam. In the meantime, if you see Nisrine, José or Sergio, give them a big high five. And remember, every America SCORES athlete-poet is a winner!