We are into our 12th year of programming with Ascend, and the season is off to a strong start. Practices have been drawing 40 to 50 kids, and tutoring and basketball are both up and running. With that many interested, Alhagie plans to settle this year’s Academy class at 35 students, so our coaches and tutors can give every student real attention.
Our students asked us for a science teacher last year, so this fall science is part of the program from the start. Mr. Dawda Bah joined our team and led the first sessions after orientation, and there were plenty of hands in the air.
The best news this fall came from our Ascend Alumni, the Academy grads who are still with us for mentorship, life skills and Saturday basketball. One Saturday, Haddy and Penda took charge of practice and ran the whole session themselves. Alhagie named Penda coach of the day. “Penda is not only a very promising kid,” he wrote, “but her leadership quality and her future in sports administration have captured my attention.”
Two more of our alumni, Muhammed and Ludrick, are now student councillors at their school. Councillors help enforce school rules and pass information from the administration on to their classmates. Both still come to our mentorship and life skills sessions. As Alhagie put it, “Our leadership program is paying dividends.”
Once again we have Alhagie, Coach Kebba, Coach Bintou, Abdou Wahab and our tutors to thank for this. We are excited to see what this group does with the year ahead.
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