Photo Courtesy of CBS News

Students in Mr. Sciencinski’s class pose with the signed Chargers T-shirt

Jocelyn Glembocki ‘27

STAFF WRITER

Chadds Ford Elementary students in Derek Sciencinski’s class used the power of persuasion to convince the Super Bowl LIX Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles to sign a Chadds Ford Shirt.

This effort began earlier this year when Mr. Sciencinski’s class worked on a persuasive writing project. He introduced a unique concept: writing handwritten letters to the sports teams using their persuasive writing skills. He explained, “We were about to begin persuasive writing and I thought it might be fun to write to local sports teams. I was hoping this would tap into the kids' interests and help them make a personal connection to what we were learning about. We were originally going to ask if they could sign a ball, but then changed it to a school shirt.”

Ultimately, the class wrote letters to all of the professional Philadelphia sports teams. The goal of this project was to convince teams to sign a Chadds Ford shirt. Some of his students wrote to the Philadelphia Eagles, and with some luck, the Eagles responded and agreed to sign their Chadds Ford Chargers shirt. Many star players from the Philadelphia Eagles signed the shirt at the Super Bowl, which took place in New Orleans on February 9. The Eagles team sent a photo of the signed shirt on the field after their dominating Super Bowl victory against the Kansas City Chiefs. The photo was a big surprise for Mr. Sciencinski’s students, representing a victory for not only the Eagles Super Bowl win but also for Mr. Sciencinski’s students. The shirt is now displayed in their classroom as a testament to their success.

Mr. Sciencinski was able to discuss with some of his students what they learned, how they would describe the overall experience, and their thoughts when they received the shirt. From this experience, students remarked: “As long as you try, you can do anything;” “It was cool being on the news;” “I was surprised because we sent the letters so long ago.” When they received the shirt after the Super Bowl, the students were both amazed and thrilled.

Some of Mr. Sciencinski’s students shared their study on CBS, showcasing the letters they wrote. In these writings, they talked about CFES celebrating their school’s 100th anniversary, the power of children's writing and education, and creating new fans for Eagles. Mr. Sciencinski was very happy for the kids and extremely grateful to the entire Eagles organization.