The Talented Youth of Chamberlain After Hours
Story By Kemarte Jefferson, Teresa Matthews and Tange Mills. Photos by George Jones, Nija Lemons, Paris Tyler, Matthew Walden Tyler and Siyana Bryant.
JANUARY 13, 2015. After the last bell rings at Chamberlain the day does not end. Chamberlain has many after school activities including majorettes, flag team, drum corps, honor society, flag football, volleyball, dance, cheerleading, tutoring, robotics, FNN, basketball and more. We have these programs for kids after school to develop our talented youth. The coaches and staff are leading these very talented students closer to achieving a goal.
So far this school year, Chamberlain Majorettes, Drum Corps and Flag Team have traveled to the Howard Homecoming, performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, performed for the Tier One Ceremony event and more.
Photo by Matthew Walden Taylor featuring Robotics Stars.
Robotics had a busy Fall. The Robotic Stars 2.0 team has many returning members and all are interested in STEM careers for their future. They have spoken about these goals with STEM experts including Deloitte Digital, NASA, FAA and Lockheed Martin. The FPCS Chamberlain Robotics Team designed, built and created unique programs for ten plus EV3, NXT and Vex Robots. This season robotics members hosted a Friendship Robotics Tournament for all Friendship Robotics FLL teams and participated in the FLL First Competition. It was a team effort. We appreciate all the parents and staff who came out to support the team.
In addition to participating in the tournament, robotics members held several robotics demonstrations for K-8 students and staff at Chamberlain. They also organized, robotics/STEM demonstrations for the youth at the Covenant House in Southeast DC and continue to prepare for upcoming tournaments and events.
Photo by Siyana Bryant
The Chamberlain Volleyball Team had a great season. They worked well as a team and had many victories throughout their season. Coach Valdez describes her team as “Chamberlain Champions Hustle Hard”.
FNN has been busy this school year attending multiple events each month, writing and interviewing as well as having a lot of fun in the process.
Basketball tryouts have started. We look forward to an exciting year. The dance team is working hard. They will be performing in December.
Photo by Nija Lemons.
The Chamberlain Flag Football Team won first in their division this season defeating Kipp on November 11, 2014. It was a true team effort. The team came out on top, and will add a trophy to our trophy case in the hall for everybody to enjoy. Chamberlain’s flag football team is put together with athletes who are: James Thorne, Jihad Alcorn, Luke Hill, Nate Lemons, Tryer Keels, Sean Smart, Larry White, Angelo Jordan, Durrain Dunbar, Khalil Jones, Tarell Shoemaker, Marvin Moore and Rashard Ray.
We asked Coach Johnson for a quote and he said, “Never give up. Continue to fight”. This quote makes us inspired because sometimes we all want to give up.
Photo By George Jones. This photo features honor roll students who balance academics and after school activities including robotics, honor society, FNN, football and majorettes.
After school activities are wonderful, but academics come first. We have had many fun fall moments practicing, preparing and performing. You have to have good grades in order to participate in all school activities. If not there is tutoring you can go to or you can try to do extra credit opportunities. We are looking forward to the banquet to celebrate and award the “Talented Youth of Chamberlain”.
Tashawn McKinney and George Jones are in the eighth grade, Kemarte Jefferson, Matthew Walden Taylor and Theresa Matthews are in the seventh grade,Tange Mills is in the fourth grade, Nija Lemons is in the third grade and Siyanna Bryant is in the fifth grade at Friendship Chamberlain Academy.