Teams, Tutors and Tour Inspire Children
A beautiful fall day, tennis and a campus adventure with Tulane University students combined to put big smiles on the faces of almost 50 New Orleans area school children on Saturday (Nov. 13). The “Fall College Experience” was for children who participate regularly in A's & Aces, a community partner that provides tutoring and tennis for more than 350 students.
Arnie Fielkow, left, New Orleans City Council president, speaks to New Orleans area school children about what it means to be a student-athlete. (Photo from A's & Aces)
Students and faculty of the Payson Center for International Development at Tulane, Tulane Athletics and the Tulane Center for Public Service hosted the event on the uptown campus.
Top players from the Tulane men's and women's tennis teams demonstrated tennis techniques before joining the A's & Aces staff in a morning of tennis clinics and games. Andrew Shahan, the principal of ARISE Academy in the Ninth Ward, watched his 3rd grade students interact with others from Hynes School, Lafayette Academy and Milestone SABIS Academy. Arnie Fielkow, New Orleans City Council president, also played tennis with the group and talked to the children about what it means to be a student-athlete.
Later in the afternoon, the children toured the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame before breaking into small groups for a scavenger hunt to search for the library, classrooms, dorms and various other landmarks. The groups were led by Tulane students who, through the A's & Aces program, have tutored the children throughout the semester.
“Tulane students participating in our service-learning program not only have the opportunity to apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom but they also create great role-models for many under-served children,” says Anna Monhartova, an adjunct assistant professor in the Payson Center.
Monhartova says the impressions made during the day may be long-lasting. As one young girl put it, “I'm definitely going to go to Tulane.”
