Friday, April 23, 2010

John Jenkins visits Stewartsboro Elementary

By A. Boggs

Vanderbilt rising sophomore John Jenkins made a surprise visit to Stewartsboro Elementary School in Smyrna, Tenn., on Thursday afternoon to an after-school reading group.

John read a book to the group, signed some autographs, and took a few pictures with the parents and students.

We all had a great time, and we want to thank Debra Marshall, a physical education teacher at Stewartsboro, and two students, Kyle Jones and Chris Hoak, for helping to arrange the visit. Also thanks to Dan Phillips and Dave Foster from Fox 17 for making the trip down to Smyrna.

Check out the photo gallery here.

4 comments:

  1. How did Jenkins make a surprise visit when there is a welcome poster in the background?

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  2. The teacher knew, but the kids didn't. She pulled that sign out when we got there. So I guess it wasn't a total surprise...

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  3. We had the sign hidden in another room and put it up as John was coming in. No one knew who the special sports guest was. Kyle had no clue that it was his hero!! I don't think he ever recovered from being tongue-tied while John was there, but he made up for it today. He talked non-stop about John! :)

    I want to thank Andy Boggs, Rod Williamson, and John Jenkins for taking the time to make this child's dream come true! John Jenkins is a TOTAL class act and the epitome of what a perfect role model should be like for children. This shows the kind of calibur of athletes that attend Vandy. Everyone was impressed with his maturity and graciousness. We need more just like him. His parents should be commended as well as his coaches.
    Thank you again and come back ANY TIME, John and Andy!

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  4. This was a wonderful opportunity for the students at Stewartsboro to interact with a true role model. Thanks so much to the efforts of Debra Marshall for our students each and every day - and thanks to John Jenkins for being an athlete who exemplifies good character that we hope for our children to model.

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