Hawks Men's Basketball Visits Marcy Elementary School

Earlier this month, the Men's Basketball team surprised many of the children at Marcy Elementary School by becoming teachers for the morning reading to the kids and hanging out together. The students, ranging from kindergarten to second grade, were tickled to see these very tall athletes take time out of their busy day to come and share their experiences of being college athletes and offer guidance about the importance of school and learning and how these things helped them become star athletes. Many of our players read to the kids ranging from familiar classics like 'Is Your Mama a Llama?' to a 'choose your own adventure' type book titled 'What should Danny do?' where the kids get to dictate what happens to Danny based off the scenarios they pick for him and with the guidance of our players, who of course, interact with the kids to help steer them down the correct path. 6'5" Sophomore, Joey Madimba had this to say about being able to read and talk with the kids: 

"The kids at Marcy were awesome! They were really involved and happy to see us and let us read and spend time with them. The kids listened well and asked lots of interesting questions. Seeing the kids smile and laugh was the best part of it all, bringing back lots of great memories as they sat on the floor together as a class. 

   Reading wasn't the only activity the players and students got to do together- everyone knows Howard Hawks are the best dancers, so in many of the classrooms, the teachers put on some dancing videos and both the players, and the children were able to show off their moves and have a mini-dance party after they got done with their books. It was a great way for the players to interact with and get to know the kids a little better. After some reading and dancing, the players and students had a back-and-forth Q&A as the players asked the kids about what they liked to do for fun, favorite sports and athletes, subjects in school, and what they wanted to be when they grew up among others. The kids got to reciprocate and asked questions such as, how everyone got so tall, favorite foods, and what they needed to do in order to become college athletes too.  

    The kids certainly had a wonderful day being able to spend time with Men's basketball, but the players got just as much out of the experience as they did. 6' 2 Freshman Kasen Kreusler exclaimed,  

    "Seeing the kids very happy to see the team was heartwarming and I enjoyed being with them and being someone that the kids can look up to. I loved everything about the kids and enjoyed my time at Marcy Elementary."  

Another huge thanks to everyone at Marcy Elementary who made such an amazing day possible. The community and surrounding areas play such a huge role in the success of Howard athletics so it's important to give back every chance we get and we look forward to the next time.