duncan228
01-22-2009, 01:09 PM
Pics and video here (http://www.nba.com/spurs/features/090121_bonner.html).
Bonner Tours Mrs Baird’s with 1st Graders (http://www.nba.com/spurs/features/090121_bonner.html)
story by Shepherd McAllister, spurs.com
SAN ANTONIO - Matt Bonner donned his hairnet and toured a birthplace of one of his dietary staples during a visit to the Mrs Baird’s bread factory in San Antonio.
Bonner shared his visit with first grader London Hinton and his classmates. London, whose essay won the Mrs Baird’s “My Favorite Way to Eat Bread” essay contest, was congratulated by his fellow essay-writing classmates from Ms. Spark’s first grade class from New Life Christian Academy. Their day grew even more exciting when Bonner surprised them with his visit.
He started the afternoon with an impromptu geography lesson, showing the kids the locations of his home state of New Hampshire, his alma mater University of Florida, and his former NBA home of Toronto.
Once he was done drawing and labeling a map of North America, Bonner talked to the kids about the importance of creative writing and imagination in school, and praised them for their hard work on the essay contest.
Always happy to serve the San Antonio community, Bonner was eager to help reward the students for their efforts, saying “they did a great thing with their creative writing essays, and they’re very excited to be here and it was fun to spend some time with them.”
London’s creative essay stood out to judges. Utilizing rhymes such as “The way I like to eat my bread is quite different I should say, I like to have fun with my square, play around, do things my way,” London detailed his favorite approach to eating Mrs Baird’s bread.
Bonner was quick to express his admiration of London’s writing ability. “I thought it was amazing. For a first grader to come up with that and make it rhyme was very creative on his part.” He added that creative writing is “a very underestimated aspect of education. Creative stuff oftentimes gets overlooked or cut from school budgets, so for Mrs Baird’s to sponsor something to spark the kids’ creativity is a great thing.”
Upon finishing his lesson, the Spurs center donned a beard net and hard hat, and took to the factory floor with London’s class in tow. Bonner found himself ducking under conveyer belts as thousands of loaves of bread and hamburger buns whizzed overhead during the tour. After making the rounds through the bakery, he graciously prepared sandwiches for the first graders, complete with peanut butter, bananas, and even marshmallow cream.
The sandwich-aficionado did have one small complaint about the trip.
“I didn’t get to eat anything, I was too busy making [sandwiches] for the kids!”
Bonner Tours Mrs Baird’s with 1st Graders (http://www.nba.com/spurs/features/090121_bonner.html)
story by Shepherd McAllister, spurs.com
SAN ANTONIO - Matt Bonner donned his hairnet and toured a birthplace of one of his dietary staples during a visit to the Mrs Baird’s bread factory in San Antonio.
Bonner shared his visit with first grader London Hinton and his classmates. London, whose essay won the Mrs Baird’s “My Favorite Way to Eat Bread” essay contest, was congratulated by his fellow essay-writing classmates from Ms. Spark’s first grade class from New Life Christian Academy. Their day grew even more exciting when Bonner surprised them with his visit.
He started the afternoon with an impromptu geography lesson, showing the kids the locations of his home state of New Hampshire, his alma mater University of Florida, and his former NBA home of Toronto.
Once he was done drawing and labeling a map of North America, Bonner talked to the kids about the importance of creative writing and imagination in school, and praised them for their hard work on the essay contest.
Always happy to serve the San Antonio community, Bonner was eager to help reward the students for their efforts, saying “they did a great thing with their creative writing essays, and they’re very excited to be here and it was fun to spend some time with them.”
London’s creative essay stood out to judges. Utilizing rhymes such as “The way I like to eat my bread is quite different I should say, I like to have fun with my square, play around, do things my way,” London detailed his favorite approach to eating Mrs Baird’s bread.
Bonner was quick to express his admiration of London’s writing ability. “I thought it was amazing. For a first grader to come up with that and make it rhyme was very creative on his part.” He added that creative writing is “a very underestimated aspect of education. Creative stuff oftentimes gets overlooked or cut from school budgets, so for Mrs Baird’s to sponsor something to spark the kids’ creativity is a great thing.”
Upon finishing his lesson, the Spurs center donned a beard net and hard hat, and took to the factory floor with London’s class in tow. Bonner found himself ducking under conveyer belts as thousands of loaves of bread and hamburger buns whizzed overhead during the tour. After making the rounds through the bakery, he graciously prepared sandwiches for the first graders, complete with peanut butter, bananas, and even marshmallow cream.
The sandwich-aficionado did have one small complaint about the trip.
“I didn’t get to eat anything, I was too busy making [sandwiches] for the kids!”