Lessons are extra fun when the classroom is Fenway
The Red Sox and MassMutual Foundations launched the inaugural Fenway Park Learning Lab on Thursday, a program that allows sixth grade students in Boston Public Schools to learn about subjects such as statistics, history, science, and financial literacy through an hour-long educational tour of the famed baseball stadium.
The goal of the program is to provide access to Fenway Park for students in Boston who otherwise may have never gone to the stadium. Indeed, a majority of the 23 sixth-grade students from the Nathan Hale School who attended the inaugural tour Thursday raised their hands when asked if it was their first time at Fenway Park.
“I personally am so excited to welcome so many first-timers to Fenway Park, especially young people of color that have never come to Fenway Park or felt like they belonged here because they might not look like our typical fan,” Red Sox Foundation executive director Bekah Salwasser said. “I want young people across this entire city, across the Commonwealth and New England to know that they’re welcome here.”
John Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, is also owner and publisher of The Boston Globe.
The Learning Lab is a partnership between The Red Sox Foundation, MassMutual Foundations, and Fenway Park Tours that has been years in the making. MassMutual Foundation provides financial support, which includes providing free transportation and lunch for students.
The program organizers hope to have 1,000 sixth-graders participate before the end of this school year, with plans to expand and have every sixth-grade BPS student participate in the Learning Lab within the next four years.
On the inaugural tour Thursday, the students stopped at several locations on a designated route, including the stadium’s press box, the Green Monster, Fenway Farms, and the Kids Concourse, to learn about the stadium in a way that connects with subjects they go over in class.
Some of the learning activities in the workbooks provided to students, for example, teach them how to budget money using food sold at concessions. Other activities in the workbooks ask students how plants at Fenway Farms grow in a certain climate.
“You want the kids to be able to apply the learning that they’re having in school and see how it applies to real-life experiences, like they’ll have here at the park,” MassMutual Foundation president Dennis Duquette said. “But also the important thing that we’re doing is connecting the kids in the schools to this park, which is an important part of the city, part of their city.”
For 11-year-old Bailee Lopes, her first visit to Fenway Park through the program included getting to meet Red Sox thirdbaseman Rafael Devers, which she said she looked forward to telling her brother about to prove she does know a thing or two about sports.
Lopes also said she was excited to learn more about the rooftop farm at Fenway, noting that she helps her grandfather harvest and cook with vegetables and fruit from his own garden.
Luna Aguirre, 12, said it was her first time at the ballpark as well, and that she looked forward to hearing stories about the park throughout their tour.