“Deep In Our Hearts”: Alumni Siblings Reflect on How DC SCORES Transformed Their Lives

“This is a full circle moment,” says Danielle Johnson. The DC SCORES alumna is sitting down for an interview with her brother, Danny. The two are discussing how many of their friends from their elementary school DC SCORES team have gone on to become public servants in the DC school system and local government. Some are even coaching DC SCORES. 

They aren’t surprised that DC SCORES inspired their peers to pursue community service careers. After all, the program profoundly affected the sibling’s own lives after they joined DC SCORES with their sister Rozine in 2002. 

“We all have different aspects of DC SCORES in our lives,” says Danielle. Danny is the performer in the trio, she explains, drawing on the public speaking skills he honed on the DC SCORES poetry slam stage in his work as a talent development consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. Rozine is still a keen writer after first encountering poetry at DC SCORES, and she says that the writing skills she developed have been vital to her professional work as a Security Officer, which requires her to write daily reports.

Danielle is the athlete in the family: in addition to serving as an Educational Aide for students with autism at Raymond Elementary School in Northwest DC, she coaches the girls’ basketball team. She’s also a regular supporter at the school’s DC SCORES soccer matches, often bringing her players to watch the games after practices. 

Like so many of their peers, the Johnson siblings’ lives were transformed by DC SCORES, connecting them with friends, mentors, and a community that they continue to cherish into adulthood.

“DC SCORES is deep in our hearts and in our lives,” says Danielle, “it shaped who we are today.”

New Opportunities

The sibling group joined DC SCORES when the award-winning after-school soccer, poetry, and service-learning program arrived at their school, Fletcher Johnson Education Campus.

Soccer was an exciting new opportunity at a school where basketball and football dominated sports culture. “It was like giving candy to a baby,” says Danielle of the first time she played soccer. “It was fun, I could run around, and I loved to score.”

Danny’s initiation into the sport took a little longer. He was only in the second grade when DC SCORES arrived, too young to join the team. But that didn’t stop him from watching from the sidelines of all his sisters’ games and practices. “Being the youngest of three, I just followed behind everything that they did,” he says.

Danny wasn’t the only boy to be inspired by Fletcher Johnson’s girls’ team. In the early years of the program at Fletcher Johnson, the girls’ team dominated. “They could never beat us!” Danielle teases her brother as she recalls the girls-versus-boys scrimmages at the end of practices.

“Every practice, every competition period, they would beat us,” Danny concedes. “They made us want to get better as boys because you see that the girls are really out there, grasping the concepts of soccer and having fun and just being good.”

For Danielle, playing on a girls’ team was a new and validating experience. Before DC SCORES arrived at Fletcher Johnson, the school had no dedicated girls’ sports teams. Danielle was often one of the only girls on her basketball team. 

“Just to see other girls like me, aggressive, competitive, and willing to give our all on the field, it was amazing,” she says.

Safe Spaces to Play

“Putting on that uniform. Them shin guards; them long, long black socks; the short shorts…just putting on that gear. It was just fun, happy,” says Danielle. 

“Practice was the most fun I ever had going to school,” adds Danny, who says poetry was his favorite aspect of DC SCORES. He even had one of his poems published in a DC SCORES anthology!

Danielle and Danny credit this joyful team culture to their coaches, Brian King, Joi Raigns, and Katrina Owens. Owens now serves as DC SCORES’ Executive Director. “I just know how much fun it seemed that they had coaching us. That made us have even more fun and just want to be out there learning from them,” says Danny. 

At the time, the siblings saw DC SCORES as simply an enjoyable activity to close out the school day. But as adults, both agree that the program was integral to their development and growth into adulthood. 

“DC SCORES has impacted my life today by giving me confidence,” says Danielle. A shy child, she began to conquer her nerves by excelling on the soccer field and performing at the poetry mic. 

Today, she draws on her own experience when encouraging her students to step outside their comfort zones. “When they get on that field, it’s a whole different person. It just shows how engaging and important DC SCORES is to us, personally, to build character,” she says.

Danny believes that DC SCORES had community-wide benefits, too. In the early 2000s, young people and families in DC were still reeling from the deadly uptick in homicide and violent crime the city experienced in the late 1990s. DC SCORES proved that when young people were given opportunities to participate in safe, supportive programs during the critical hours after school, they could thrive. 

“You’re given choices, and depending on the choices that you make, it can impact your future. The choice that we had was to stay long after school and be part of something like DC SCORES and learn new things…just, you know, better ourselves,” says Danny. 

The Power of Community

The importance of investing in young people’s communities can’t be underestimated, says Danny.

He played goalkeeper on the squad and recalls working with his DC SCORES teammates to prevent the opposition from scoring. “Having friends and trusting those people, it just builds lifelong bonds,” he says. “The qualities that DC SCORES instills in you, the teamwork, the competitiveness, and emotional intelligence, is really high.”

Both Danielle and Danny still cherish the relationships they built on their DC SCORES team. “My childhood best friends all came from being in DC SCORES,” says Danny. Danielle has such fond memories of DC SCORES that she still has her old trophy from her very first Fall Frenzy. “That’s how you know how important DC SCORES is to me, keeping this all these years,” she says.

“DC SCORES came into our lives at a pivotal point,” says Danny. “You can tell from everyone that you meet who were brought up through DC SCORES that they’re definitely the better for being inside the organization. I want to say thank you to DC SCORES for helping us get to where we are today.”