SLANT 45 kicks off in Arlington and online registration opens across North Texas
ARLINGTON – Daryl Johnston, former Dallas Cowboys star, was on his hands and knees in the Pope Elementary School library Tuesday, pounding a hammer into a rubber mat.
Beneath the mat were tiles that needed to be broken into many pieces and then fitted by students to form a grand mosaic of what will be a giant panther paw, representing the school mascot. Once completed, the piece of art will remain on display on the school grounds of Pope Elementary.
“It’s going to be there for a long time,” explained Erin Jacobs, age 11. “And everybody who will come here will see it and they’ll know that in the year 2010, third through fifth graders made this.”
And when Erin Jacobs is Daryl Johnston’s age? That Panther could still walk proudly, thanks to the SLANT 45 service-learning program.
Three groups of students, seven to nine kids in each group, showed off the first of what will be thousands of SLANT 45 projects throughout North Texas in the coming year.
For almost two hours, Johnston moved slowly from one group’s table to the next, not only observing and listening to students but getting involved. He is the Chair of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s SLANT 45 Action Team, which has partnered with Dallas-based nonprofit Big Thought on a project that will impact the lives of thousands of school children and their teachers and families in the coming year.
Ted and Shannon Skokos, co-sponsors of SLANT 45 with Bank of America, slowly shifted from table to table, sometimes sitting with the students, asking them questions. But this was not some casual walk-through — the Skokoses spoke to almost every child and very intently listened.
“These kids are sharp,” Ted said. “They are very vociferous. They know what’s going on.”
He later added, “We think this is what community involvement ought to be about. This is just wonderful. We think SLANT 45 exceeds our expectations, the way it has cranked up. We originally thought 20,000 to 30,000 kids would be hard to reach. Now, we think it’s going to exceed that figure.”
Shannon Skokos was also highly impressed. When Bill Lively, President & CEO of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, urged the Skokoses to get involved, the couple knew they wanted to help leave a lasting legacy and not just support a Super Bowl game.
“I’ve said for many years to anyone who would listen to me that to be the greatest leader you must first be the greatest servant,” Shannon said. “This program is teaching these kids service and how to do things from a servant’s heart, and not because it was something assigned to them by a teacher or that they were told to do by a parent.
“You’re teaching them to have a giving heart, to give back to their community. I’m so excited to see the kids get into their projects. I’m enjoying listening to them tell how much they are enjoying giving back. It’s a very valuable lesson to instill in them at this age, and it will continue throughout their lives.”
Alejandro Quintero was the student selected as spokesperson for the project entitled “April Shower” — a caring effort designed to bring needed personal hygiene and paper products to families at the Arlington Life Shelter.
“We’ve all been meeting and brainstorming some ideas,” Alejandro said. “We came up with the thought of supporting Arlington Life Shelter. We’re filling ‘goody’ bags with things they’re going to need.”
Asked which he considered more important, participating in a Super Bowl-related event or helping others, Alejandro said, “They’re both important but for me, we’re helping out people who don’t have that much money, and we’re giving them a little push with things like shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrushes, tooth paste, deodorant and hand towels. We’re also having a drive in our school. Whichever grade brings the most stuff for the Arlington Life Shelter will get an ice cream party.”
At yet another table, the Student Council had created a game night for the Arlington Villa retirement center, a residential community. Game boards included various objects and ways to wind from start to finish.
As the activity continued around the room, a movie crew also began shooting film for a full-length documentary that will be presented next February during Super Bowl XLV festivities.
Bill Lively, refers to SLANT 45 as “the conscience of the Game”. And if SLANT 45 is that conscience, students and teachers are making sure North Texas’ first-ever Super Bowl is also blessed with an enormous heart and soul.
A few feet from Johnston’s participation with students, Big Thought President & CEO Gigi Antoni smiled brightly.
“Daryl is so committed and such a great leader,” she said. “He’s very inspirational. He’s inspired my team at Big Thought, and I think he inspires the kids because Daryl is the real thing. He’s a real authentic leader that believes in us in a very real way. Kids know if you’re not real. They wouldn’t be sitting with him doing that if they didn’t believe in him.”
This is the day that launches 3,000, maybe even 5,000 or more student-created initiatives, all under SLANT 45’s ever-growing umbrella.
“I look at these projects,” Antoni said, “and just think of this exponentially, over and over, thousands of these wonderful projects going on all over North Texas. And I can’t say enough about all the participation from The Junior Leagues and The Links, Inc. It’s just astounding.”
The goal is to make SLANT 45 the largest service-learning project involving students in U.S. history. The aim is to reach out to 20,000 students, primarily from grades three through five in a four-county area (Collin, Dallas, Denton, Tarrant),for 45,000 hours of service-learning, and allow them to come up with their own programs.
Amanda Gibbons, Big Thought’s SLANT 45 Project Manager, had been planning for this launch for several months. There was a major media blowout at Cowboys Stadium last September announcing SLANT 45, and several major press releases announcing sponsors and community partners, but now the kids are getting their hands dirty. Now they are the stars of this show.
“It’s thrilling,” Gibbons said. “We’ve had so much interest from the public, and they have been eager to be able to sign up and register. Today, that all goes live. Registration is open; kids can start thinking about their ideas and get rolling with their projects.”
Gibbons emphasized, “The projects here today are examples of the variety of projects that can happen with SLANT 45. But no one is limited. Projects can be done during school hours, after school, at home, with faith-based groups and youth organizations. There will be big groups, small groups, a great variety.”
Pope Elementary School Principal Celina Kilgore was also enthused.
“I am so proud of the students,” she said, “because I think it’s just incredible that they have such giving and generous hearts.
“We’ve talked a lot about how it does not matter how much money you make, it’s still important to give to your community. I believe they understand the true meaning of that. And then, it’s also exciting as well to be a part of Super Bowl XLV.”
In closing, Johnston told the entire room, “I don’t think even we could have expected to see such great ideas so quickly from groups of kids.
“The great thing about SLANT 45 is we let the kids do all the work. We let the kids get their thought processes out there. They’re coming up with the concepts. A lot of times they have better ideas than the adults do.”
And it’s a good thing, too, since these creations are theirs. Even with assistance from Bank of America, the Skokos Foundation, Big Thought and the Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, the stars of the show on this day were the students.
