City Squash
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News

Jun
06

CitySquash goes on Spring Tour

 

This April, over 50 team members traveled to Florida, Vancouver, Ottawa, Philadelphia, and Long Island as a part of CitySquash’s annual Spring Enrichment Tours! Spending the week holding alligators in the Everglades, hiking along the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in Vancouver, touring Parliament in Ottawa, and spending a night at the museum in Philadelphia – our team members explored near and far and had a blast! By the end of the week, CitySquash students returned to the Bronx and Brooklyn with valuable memories and stronger connections with their teammates. In total, CitySquash team members have now traveled to 13 countries and 28 states. Thank you to all who make these trips possible.

 

Please see student reflections detailing their unforgettable experiences below!

 

Elementary School Trip to Philadelphia:

For the elementary school Spring Tour, the 4th grade class traveled to Philadelphia for 3 days. The first thing we did was visit the Franklin Institute. It is the science museum where science is actually fun! There were games and fun ways to learn about things like gravity, the human heart, and engines. We even slept at the museum next to an exhibit about traveling to the moon. It was exciting to learn about phases of the moon while I was in my sleeping bag.

-Diana Hernandez, 4th grade

 

Middle School Trip to Florida:

This spring, ten CitySquash middle schoolers piled into the bus and hit the road for all points south! While their epic road odyssey began and ended in the Bronx, it included stops in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.  In just six days they saw almost all of what the east coast has to offer and got to experience quite a bit of it as well with activities like, laser tag, a tour of a former slave plantation, several beach trips, volleyball, basketball, squash with Chucktown Squash, banana boating, exotic food tasting, exploring the Everglades, and even holding an alligator! Happily exhausted they carried many a life-long memory back to the Bronx and on the seventh day, rested.

 

High School Trip to Ottawa:

We had fun touring Skidmore College and St. Lawrence University. We even got the chance to be hosted by students attending St. Lawrence and it was great to experience college life for a night. The college process is right around the corner for some of us, so these college trips are really helpful in preparing us so that we can get a sense of what college is the right fit for each of us. This spring tour was a very memorable one and I will always be thankful for the educational and fun opportunities CitySquash provides for my friends and me.

-Nicole Lara, 11th grade

 

CitySquash Brooklyn Trip to Long Island:

Even though going to new places and trying new things were fun, one of my favorite memories was simply playing a group clapping game one night at the house. It was my favorite because the whole team, including the coaches, were sitting in a circle and laughing, talking, and having fun together. It felt like we were really a family even though we are not blood-related. Everyone in CitySquash is like a second family to me, just like the common phrases ‘brother from another mother’ or ‘sister from another mister’. I love all of our experiences together.

-Zoe Liu, 5th grade

 

Beyond the Boroughs to Vancouver:

The next day we all climbed Grouse Mountain, which was very steep and through forest. It was a tough climb, but we all got to the top, where we saw two bears! There was still a lot of snow on the top and people skiing. After lunch, we took the easy way down in the Gondola. There were great views over Vancouver and the Islands. We then went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, which was fantastic. The suspension bridge was 450 meters long and as high as the arm pit of the Statue of Liberty. Thank you, CitySquash!

-Daniel Maldonado, 9th Grade