CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools athletics manager Josh Hardin could sense the anticipation this week in advance of Saturday's second annual CPS All-Star Basketball Showcase.
"We had our student-athletes at Woodward earlier this week to practice — they were excited," Hardin said. "Our cheerleaders came for their performance. I was on the phone with Mayor Pureval and his staff on him being here to be a dunk contest judge. And so this whole week has been amazing building up to this culmination of the winter basketball season that we've got going on."
The sold-out CPS All-Star Showcase (1,000 fans), presented by the University of Cincinnati, featured dozens of student-athletes from around the school district participating in basketball skills competitions, 3-point contests, all-star games, a slam dunk event and a cheerleading performance at Woodward High School. The showcase was also streamed by On Impact Recruiting Services.
The event also included a college and career fair with several tables that had information and representatives to connect with students of all ages.
Cortney Matthews, assistant director for community outreach, access and diversity at UC, said the event's focus was on the students and the opportunities they can discover through the showcase.
"It's a phenomenal opportunity to just make sure that we are engaging the community along with CPS in building that strong partnership and continuing that partnership that we've had for a long time," Matthews said.
Blaine Kelley, associate director of admissions at UC, had a table with information about the university. He had the UC Clermont women's basketball national championship trophy on display, too.
"There are so many community partners, different schools, different entities here to support the students from CPS schools," Kelley said. "I think it's an outstanding event. We're thrilled to a part of it at the University of Cincinnati."
All the proceeds from the showcase went to Project Connect, which serves students and families who are experiencing homelessness within the school district.
Project Connect will receive a $15,000 check this weekend thanks to the partnership of UC and CPS, according to Hardin.
"We talked about all the supportive partners — everybody that's here," Hardin said. "And even more so our ability for our student-athletes to see what we're doing and how we're giving back and to understand we all have some things going on, but we all can get out there and help others."
Rebeka Beach, Project Connect program manager with Cincinnati Public Schools, said the organization serves about 3,500 students annually who do not have housing in the district.
Beach said Project Connect is very grateful for the partnership between CPS and UC.
"These funds really go to support our summer academic and enrichment program, which is a six-week program serving our students residing in shelters or who are unhoused," Beach said.
"We're able to provide so many opportunities for them with these funds. Beyond academics we want to give our students experiences and so this allows us to provide swim lessons, our students get to go to Camp Joy, they go kayaking. And we just know that our students who are experiencing housing instability are dealing with a lot trauma and so there are a lot of healing benefits to nature."
