TMA on the White House Lawn

WRITTEN BY NADEAN TALLEY

On Monday, June 14, Thurgood Marshall Academy's Class of 2011, along with a selected few freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, got the chance of a lifetime: to play on the White House Lawn! Our group participated in the one year celebration of Let's Move Outside, an extension of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign to fight childhood obesity.

Fortunately, I was one of the TMA students selected to participate in the the trip and I was ecstatic to join 49 of my peers in being active on the White House's South Lawn. We enjoyed activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking, tent pitching, kayaking, and even fly fishing. All right there on the White House Lawn!




Initially, we thought we would be arriving to a group of many students, but it turned out we were the only school invited and that made us cherish the experience even more. It was definitely something most people will never have the chance to do – most people dream of just being inside the gates of the White House. I liked the freedom we had, so for me it was pretty much a dream come true and I’ll remember it a million years from now.

From this event, we all gained either a new skill or learned a lesson. Some of us even overcame come our fears, such as heights, and strengthened our trust in ourselves by pushing all the way to the top on the rock climbing wall.

The rock climbing wall had to be one of the most difficult things I've overcome in my life. I was scared – scared of falling, scared of slipping. Just scared! What made it more difficult was that despite being scared, you had to strategize. You had to be aware and look for places to place your feet and hands and you had to make sure you were stable before trying to move up. When you're scared, this is NOT easy. After getting myself to the top and somehow hitting the impossible-to-reach little red button that rang when you pressed it, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. But coming down was more difficult that climbing up! After about 3 minutes of being completely frozen, I overcame my fear of falling and let go – I just pushed off and bounced all the way down to the asphalt of the White House driveway. Once my feet felt ground under them, I felt like I could achieve whatever I put my mind to. After gathering my thoughts and calming my shaking body down, I climbed the wall again. This time, I was motivated to do it faster.

Whether it be learning how to ride a bike for the first time, realizing which way pitching a tent gets it up faster, or gaining trust in yourself like I did, we all walked away with something useful to apply to our futures.

Students Get Exposure to the Music Industry at Grammy SoundChecks

Imagine being in the same room as a Grammy-nominated artist and being able to ask him questions such as how he got there? What were his inspiration(s)? That is exactly what 11 TMA students were able to did last Wednesday with 3-time Grammy nominated singer Raphael Sadiq. Through the Grammy Foundation’s Soundchecks program, students were able to observed Sadiq’s sound check which provided them with a glimpse of the realities of music careers and the music industry. After the rehearsal, the 11 TMA students, along with approximately 30 other area college and high-school students, were able to ask Sadiq questions about his career, the challenges he’s faced, his inspirations. According to 12^th grader Ke’von Miles, being able to participate in the question and answer session, “Opened my mind and exposed me to the real dealings of the music industry.” Another student, 10^th grader Charell Williams commented “It was a good experience and it has inspired me to strive to be who I want.” Thank you to Wendi Cherry at the Grammy Foundation for allowing our students to attend this event!

10 Questions in 2 minutes with Angela Moten

Watch Junior Angela Moten talk about her exciting summer plans!

Warrior Radio

Warrior Radio is an after school club that allows students to create, edit and publish their own podcasts. After weeks of hard work, our first show is ready to air. The Queen and Mickey Show, staring Kiman Mickens and Darylquisha Hill, discusses the latest in pop music. Enjoy and check back for new episodes!

Hands On Learning In Biology

Students in Ms. Johnston’s Biology class wrapped up the school year by dissecting a frog!

TMA Debate Team Finishes the Year Strong!

(writing credit: Sanjay Mitchell, Debate coach)

On May 25th and 26th, our TMA Warriors Debate Team participated in the championship debate tournament to culminate the end of the 2010-2011 debate season. We had one 2-man team at the championship and they did VERY well. Our students worked hard, argued strong and did went up against some stiff competition. This time around, we came out 2 – 2 losing twice to the team from Maret School. The judges commented that this was the hardest debate to judge because both teams did exceptionally well.

At the end of the day, here is where we placed:

Moo Ho Bae II – 3^rd place top speaker

Aaron Toomer – 8^th place top speaker

TMA won 1^st place for the highest winning percentage average over the season. We had a winning average of a 70.8%.

The trophy will be in the display case soon.

Thanks again for all your support and special thanks to Mr. Addison, and co-coah Mr. Jayne. Thanks also to Ms. Lewis for volunteering your time and energy with our students.

Presenting: The TMA Spanish Fair

By Aaliyah Long '12 and Ambré Ellison '12

The Spanish Fair occurred on May 26, 2011 and was a very successful and exciting event! If you didn’t come you missed a very cultural experience with the entire TMA community.


Ms. Allison leads a Zumba session full of Latin beats.

This fair was presented by students in Spanish I, II, and III. The students participated by contributing things that appealed to their talents, such as food preparation, art work, journalism, dressing up like cultural leaders, and performances.

We interviewed fellow TMA students about their experience at the Spanish Fair. Our first interviewee was Aaron Long ‘14. His response to the Spanish Fair was “It was amazing!” Nia Boxley ‘12 thought the fair was “good. It was actually really fun.” Tiona Rollerson ‘12 said, “The Spanish Fair was very great; I enjoyed the dancing and the different acts.” Lastly, Nia Johnson ‘12 loved the fair, saying “It was awesome! I didn’t think that I would ever come to something this great.”


Some of the gastronomical delights. From left to right: mango banana smoothie, guava juice, and arroz con pollo.

Overall, the students here really enjoyed themselves. Congratulations to Collecha Newby ‘12 and Tiona Rollerson for their victory in the Spanish recipe contest. They really did an excellent job. All of the performances were great. Thanks to all students and staff for participating and we hope that next year’s fair is an even bigger success.
~Love Peace Happiness !