Ketcham ES presented with custom jersey, game tickets from the Washington Nationals 

Team celebrated school’s involvement in Grand Slam Schools initiative, which encourages learning through baseball-themed curriculum.

(Washington, DC) — Washington Nationals staff and mascot Screech surprised students and staff at Ketcham Elementary School during a celebration of the DC Public Schools (DCPS) Grand Slam Schools partnership.  

Ketcham scholars and staff received baseball hats displaying the Grand Slam and Nationals logos and Gregory McCarthy, Nationals Senior Vice President of Community and Government Engagement, presented a special Ketcham jersey to Principal Lacondria Beckwith. 

Students were overjoyed when McCarthy announced they would all be getting tickets to a Nationals game this upcoming season. 

“How many of you have been to a baseball game at a ballpark?” he asked them, observing a few raised hands. “Well before this season ends, every one of you is going to raise your hand—because you are all coming to a baseball game!” McCarthy said, to student cheers. 

The Grand Slam Schools initiative is a partnership between the Nationals and local elementary schools which uses the sport of baseball as a vehicle for teaching. The program supports member schools year-round through three main pillars of Reading/Literacy, Physical Education, and STEM Education in ways that reflect the specific needs of individual member schools. 

Throughout the offseason, the Nationals hosted jersey presentations at seven school assemblies for schools participating in the program. 

DCPS Chancellor Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee attended the celebration and demonstrated to students some of the ways math and baseball are connected. “When I attended a baseball game, I got to see a grand slam,” Dr. Ferebee told the students. “The Nationals curriculum in STEM can help you understand the physics behind that. How does the ball get over the fence, how much force from the bat to the ball does it take to create the homerun experience?”

In an interview with Nationals staff, Dr. Ferebee praised the partnership, “We’re fortunate to have a long history with the Washington Nationals in the partnership of our Grand Slam schools, and their STEM curriculum is a huge benefit to our schools,” he said.  

“Our students get the chance to interact with the Nationals, they get a chance to go to Nats Park, to run the bases. But we make that a learning opportunity for our students. I think that’s what makes this partnership special—for students to understand the physics of baseball, the math of baseball, and incorporate that into what they’re expected to learn in our DCPS curriculum.” 

For Principal Beckwith, the partnership is a way to celebrate and uplift children who persist through struggle. 

“I am most proud of the way our students persevere. We have students that go through so many things outside of school, and we provide them with community here. And they come here every day ready to learn,” Beckwith said. 

“It was great,” Beckwith said of the event. “We’ve been in partnership with the Nats for four years. It wasn’t a surprise they were here, because they’re always here supporting our school. But it was really great to bring it all together and celebrate what the partnership has been for four years.”