On Saturday, February 21st five students from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area had an experience that would last a lifetime. After being announced as winners a week before for the Black History Month Poetry Contest, Grand Prize Winners, Brandon Ruffin and Brandon Jones and First Place Winners Alexandria Alexander, Ana Carranza and Aiyla Arif were taken on a whirlwind tour thanks to the Washington Wizards, Etan Thomas and Amtrak.

The night began with the winners, who were selected out of more than 65 entries, receiving four tickets to the Washington Wizards vs. San Antonio Spurs game. Upon entering Verizon Center, the winners received a dinner for four in the Acela Club restaurant with the Grand Prize winners also having the opportunity to record their essays for Wizards Magazine, a weekly, in-depth television magazine show that covers Washington Wizards players on and off the court.

After recording their essays, the winners were taken to their seats for the start of the game. After watching the two teams go at it for 24 minutes on the court, it was the winners chance to take the court for a half-time on-court presentation. During the break, the winners took the court and were presented in front of a sell-out crowd at Verizon Center by members of Amtrak and Etan Thomas.

Following the presentation, all the winners went to the practice court for a personal meet and greet with Etan Thomas. As a poet himself, Thomas had the opportunity to talk to the kids about his life and also held a question and answer session with the winners.

Along with the gameday experience, the Grand Prize winners, which included Akosua Johnson who was unable to attend that night's game, also received four roundtrip tickets on Amtrak Northeast Regional to anywhere along the Northeast corridor and the opportunity to have lunch on a private dining car with Etan Thomas at a future date, while the first place winners received an Amtrak Prize Package.

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