Summer Is Here

The Oklahoma cousins have come for a visit!

Self Entertainment

As I unloaded the pictures from my camera, these were on it..............T's lacrosse coach tends to go on a bit and I guess J. got bored during his speech last night at the picnic and used my camera to entertain himself. He is such a funny kid.......Being the third he is dragged around everywhere. At Em's graduation party, I kept trying to keep an eye on him and at one point he was on Rory's shoulders playing volleyball with the seniors.............he thinks he is 17 too.........

More Parties

Tonight was the Lacrosse end of the season awards picnic for T. and then our friend Emily's graduation party at the swim club. T. got 3 awards at the banquet, the Iroquois award for tenacity, the best offensive player award and then all-district first team. It was a nice potluck at the stadium field. We graduated 11 seniors..........it will be a tough year on the team next year.
Em's party had a bonfire, beach volleyball, swimming and barbeque............even in the heat, it was a nice party.

All District First Team

And in today's paper another Poe was spotlighted.............as T. made the all district first team for lacrosse........Chris saw it in the paper this morning around 7 and went to congratulate T. We have never seen him move so fast out of bed to see the paper or anything really.....not even Christmas when he was little. Our soccer friend also made first team for her sport and her picture is the one you can hardly see above. Taking pictures of the newspaper doesn't work so well, but I had to have it anyway. T. and a buddy are throwing around at the upper baseball field with J above, who now says lacrosse is his favorite sport............did I mention he got his first goal this weekend?

The Dreamers

The following was in todays newspaper: Issue #20.23 :: 06/03/2008 - 06/09/2008

Charlottesville Dreamers move on and up Students, sponsored since first grade, prepare for CHS

BY JAYSON WHITEHEAD

Financial advisor Chris Poe was a college student when he first heard of the I Have a Dream Foundation while watching a “60 Minutes” segment on the program, which started 20 years ago to help poor inner city kids with school and life. “I thought that would really be cool to do someday,” he says. “But back then, I didn’t have two nickels to rub together. So fast forward.” In the year 2000, Poe and Realtor Jeff Gaffney (who was inspired by a Colin Powell speech) partnered to launch a branch of the program at Clark Elementary by adopting the entire first grade. They believe they can fly: From left, Robert Brooks, Jeff Gaffney, Priscilla Johnson, Barrington Irving and Chris Epps at a May 30 ceremony to mark the Charlottesville Dreamers move to high school. “We wanted to do something that would be a very involved and committed requirement of our time,” Poe says. Calling it the Charlottesville Dreamers, Poe and Gaffney pledged to provide the more than 60 children—many of whom lived in public housing—with academic support, cultural and recreational activities, and individual attention for at least 12 years. “Sometimes we just play basketball,” Poe says. Now most of the 14- and 15-year-olds are leaving Buford Middle School to move on to Charlottesville High, where they will continue to be sponsored, eventually receiving tuition assistance to attend a college, university or accredited vocational school. That opportunity is at least four years away, though, and the Dreamers have more immediate interests. Take, for instance, Chris Epps. For a while now, the incoming CHS freshman has wanted to learn how to fly planes—and he is suddenly close to his dream. On May 29, he got to meet Barrington Irving. Only 24, Irving has already flown solo around the world in a plane he built from donated parts, in the process becoming both the youngest person and the first black person to do so. Now he runs a nonprofit that tries to interest youth in aviation and he appears at assemblies like the one at Buford for the Charlottesville Dreamers. “You have to understand where Barrington came from,” says Robert Brooks, a local developer and part-time pilot who is responsible for bringing the aviator to town. “Barrington forged his path from inner city Miami, and actually ran into a mentor who enabled him to follow his dream.” “I was in the store, and it was the first time I had seen a black pilot in person,” says Irving. Amazingly, the pilot walked up to him and asked if he had ever wanted to fly, and then took the boy under his wing, eventually inspiring him to undertake his historic journey. “I didn’t even think I was smart enough to fly an airplane,” he says, smiling. Now Irving offers his life as an example. “Having a dream is one thing, living it is another,” he says. “Helping students realize their dream is a key component.” Which brings us back to Epps. After Barrington’s words, Brooks offered to let the teen fly back with Barrington and him to Richmond in his four-seat plane. “There’s a lot of parallels between what the I Have a Dream Foundation is doing and what [Irving] did,” says Brooks. “It’s very much a reality.” C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Strawberry Season

I think this time of the year is more hectic than Christmas. Kids get out this week and the stress and changes are too much. I am trying to concentrate on the good things of the season........

Graduation Parties

The graduation parties have all begun.......................I have very mixed feeling about this class leaving. They are the class ahead of T. and I have known many of them since elementary days........this is harder than I expected it to be.