Batlings - John Bonnes, better known to internet-savvy Twins fans as TwinsGeek, is organizing a charity get-together for the June 21st game vs Detroit. The details are below, and there's a chance you (yes, you!) could win tickets to watch the game from the owners box! You won't be by yourself trying to make polite conversation with Carl but rather with Twins legend Tony Oliva. Read on below:

For awhile now, we've talked generally about a Twins bloggers night. It's here.

A friend of mine, Jim McCorkell, started a non-profit group called Admission
Possible five years ago. Its goal is to help promising low-income students
earn admission to college. The mission is to identify low-income young
people with the potential and the motivation for college and then provide
them with four critical services: (1) SAT and ACT test preparation; (2)
intensive assistance in preparing college applications (3) help in obtaining
financial aid and (4) guidance in transition to college.

Now here comes the fun part: They've received a gift from the Pohlad family
for a Twins event on Tuesday, June 21st. The Twins host the Tigers, and
Admission Possible gets a picnic, the owner's suite, and just about as many
tickets as they want. They can do whatever they want with it and EVERY PENNY
goes to Admission Possible.

Here's the deal:

For $25, each person gets a ticket to the game, admission to the pregame picnic tent (SW corner of the dome, 5-7PM, with hot dogs, chips, soda), and a raffle ticket to sit in the owner's box - with Tony Oliva. Kids are just $5, which is obviously less than the cost of the ticket (or the hot dogs, for that matter). Tony O will also be stopping by the picnic. It's perfect - a great event, with fellow Twins fan(atics), food, a jazz band, a chance to sit in Carl's suite, and not only does every penny go to a worthy cause, but the Pohlad family is doubling it. Admission Possible is coordinating everything, and you can sign up right now at:

I honestly can't think of how this could get any better. (OK, I can, and it involves those cinnamon roasted almonds, but I'll work that out myself).

Admission Possible has been wildly successful, as the Strib noted in this editorial (http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/5353906.html ) a couple of years ago and MPR more recently. (http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/06/06_pugmiret_graduates/)

• 97% of the students they assisted have been admitted to college. This year, 100% of their 246 senior students have been admitted to college. 95% of their seniors this year have been admitted to a four-year college.

• 91% of students who enrolled in college are still enrolled and working toward their college degree (the oldest students are now college juniors, so they don't yet have graduation data). Nationally, only about 50% of all students who enroll in college graduate within six years.

• Students in this program have shown an average ACT score improvement of 16%! Leading for-profit companies like Kaplan, by comparison, advertise average increases of 12-14%. This year the average score of Admission Possible's students moved from about 15.5 to about 18.

• A recently completed analysis shows that an investment of $3,000 for one Admission Possible student (programming costs for the 2 years of the program) will yield a 500% return to society over the course of the student's lifetime.

  I'll be there with bells on, along with The Voice of Reason, The Chatty Chatty Princess, The Boy, Aaron Gleeman and some other bloggers. Tragically, we found out a month ago that Bat Girl won't get back from her vacation until the day after the event, so we'll be counting on her dear readers to fill the void. I really hope you can make it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to post them below, or contact me at TwinsGeek.com.

  Thanks,
  John

What do you say? If it's not me, I'd love nothing more than for the owners box seat to go to a fellow Batling. Click the link above and sign up, and make your plans or ask questions of TwinsGeek below.