Zina Garrison Academy Paints the Town Red (and Blue, and Yellow, and Green…..)
“Paint Day” Spotlights New Partnership with KIPP Houston
Courtesy of GuidryNews.com – Click for original article
News Release | Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Houston, TX – Students from KIPP Houston public charter schools will use tennis balls in a unique fashion when they join with staff from the Zina Garrison Academy for “ZGA Paint Day,” a festive event which will commemorate a new partnership between their two organizations.
On Friday, September 21, at 8 a.m., a group of students will gather at the site of the new KIPP Houston Sunnyside campus at 11000 Scott St. Here, they will have the opportunity to dunk tennis balls in buckets of paint and then hurl the coated spheroids at huge 8’ x 14’ canvases, creating vibrant abstract art in the process.
Houston artist Kelly Gale Amen has organized Paint Day celebrations for the Zina Garrison Academy in the past, and believes that the exercise is “something fun to help the kids understand the value of the arts in their lives. It’s just magic.”
“It’s all about the complete student,” Amen says, “encompassing art, athletics, and academics. Paint Day gets the energy flowing on every level.”
Zina Garrison Academy Executive Vice President Linda Elliott says, “Traditionally, tennis and the disciplines that accompany it, are our primary activities but Paint Day shows our kids that fun is still a very important component of our program.”
The Zina Garrison Academy and KIPP Houston have recently formed a partnership to construct a tennis and educational complex at KIPP Houston’s Sunnyside campus on Scott Street. This new relationship between the two organizations will allow the Academy to reach more underserved young people in the Sunnyside neighborhood. The site borders the neighborhood where Zina Garrison grew up and honed her tennis and life skills with Coach John Wilkerson at MacGregor Park.
The Zina Garrison Academy offers free programming for all children in the Houston area 50 weeks each year. The Academy provides educational support, positive role models, parent education, and tennis instruction. “We try to give kids whatever they might need to succeed,” Elliott explains. “Tennis is a great place to learn how life works.”
Additionally, The Zina Garrison Academy will host its first-ever Fall Golf Outing on Monday, September 10, at the BlackHorse Golf Club. Event chairman Kim Phillips promises, “This is a day of fun, with a great round of golf for a great cause.”
The Fall 2012 Golf Outing begins with registration and breakfast at 7:00am, and an 8:00am shotgun start. Lunch and an awards ceremony will follow at 12:30. Play will follow a scramble format, with gross and net prizes for first and second place. The BlackHorse Golf Club is located at 12205 Fry Road. To register, contact Linda Elliott at 713-857-3167. More information is available at www.zinagarrison.org.
About the Zina Garrison Academy: The mission of ZGA is to develop stars in the classroom, on the tennis court, and in the community by providing educational support, positive role models, parent education, and excellent tennis instruction. The Zina Garrison Academy provides 50 weeks of free programming each year for all children in the Houston area. This tennis and leadership academy was founded in 1992 by legendary tennis professional and native Houstonian Zina Garrison. Over the past two decades, the Academy has targeted underserved youth, helping them to discover their individual talents, stay healthy and fit, and become future leaders in the community while learning the sport of tennis. During this period, the Academy has provided services to over 25,000 children.
