On Thursday, March 27, the Seattle University men's soccer team partnered with SCORES, a Seattle non-profit organization which empowers inner-city children to change their world through soccer, literacy, and community service, to host the organization's annual College Kicks Day at Championship Field and the Student Center.
Six school communities from Southeast Seattle and the White Center area, consisting of 190 children, 12 coaches, and 40 family members, came to Seattle University to participate in various soccer stations, tour the SU campus, and interact with a panel of college students for a Q&A. Seattle University soccer players Chris Hodges (Redmond, Wash.), Nick James (Kirkland, Wash.), Jordan Jennings (Tacoma, Wash.), Cameron Mertens (Kennewick, Wash.), Sean Morris (Bothell, Wash.), and David Raney (Lynnwood, Wash.) gave up a day from their Spring Break to help facilitate the soccer stations.
SCORES reaches out to 416 children ages 8-12, all of them in under-resourced schools in White Center, Tukwila, Burien, and South Seattle, with a vision of building strong bodies, minds, and communities through writing and soccer. Each participant is a member of both a writing team and a soccer team at their school and coaches, more than 52 public school teachers, use those components to teach commitment, leadership, sportsmanship, and teamwork.
This activity is one of many undertaken by the Seattle University athletic department as it follows the university's mission of educating the whole person to become a leader in a just and humane world.