TAP After School at Barrington Elementary participated in “Lights On After School”, which is an annual event to raise awareness about the importance of after school programs.
For the event we took youth from a handful of AISD elementary schools near Lanier High School to march from their school to Lanier, where we gathered for an assembly of performances and songs and pep talks from program directors, and best of all: FREE CAKE!
Our students gathered up in the gym at Barrington ready to take to the streets with the posters and badges they had decorated to show their support of our own after school program, called Stampede.
Once we got outside, the weather was nice and morale was high. Passing traffic honked and the students chanted after our program director, Candice: “When I say ‘Stam,’ you say ‘pede!’ STAM! PEDE! STAM PEDE! STAM! PEDE!” When I say ‘lights,’ you say ‘on!’ LIGHTS! ON! LIGHTS! ON!” And so on and so on, until our throats were raw and destroyed. Hooray.
Once we made it to lanier, there was more screaming, followed by a break dancing act performed by some of Lanier’s finest High School B-Boys.
Unfortunately, since this event was a new-born baby, things didn’t go quite as planned. Time ran out quickly and our poor students missed out on cake. Uh-oh. That meant the walk home was not quite as exciting. Nonetheless, some students took advantage of the calm atmosphere to reflect upon some of the more nuanced aspects of their surrounding neighborhood. We saw undeveloped areas of vast green forest, places that would be perfect for skateboarding, restaurants that we’d like to eat at, and spooky Halloween decorations on people’s front lawns.
All and all, the event was an excellent excuse to vent out a superfluity glut of energy and to enjoy some fine, fine sunshine.
~Aron Taylor, TAP After School: Barrington
