This spring, over 50 team members traveled to Vermont, New Orleans, Boston, and Virginia as part of CitySquash’s annual Spring Enrichment Tours! They spent their trips hiking the mountains in Vermont, holding alligators in New Orleans, touring all of Boston, and visiting the home of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia. Our team members enjoyed exploring many new places and going on new adventures with memories that will last them forever. In total, CitySquash team members have now traveled to 13 countries and 31 states. Thank you to all who make these trips possible.

Please see student reflections detailing their unforgettable experiences below!

Elementary School Trip to Vermont:

“The fifth grade went to the Ben and Jerry’s factory in Vermont. We got a really nice person to show us around. We saw the big tubes where they put the ice cream. Fun fact: the workers that try the ice cream eat about 1 whole tub of ice cream a day. We got to taste samples of the cookies and milk flavor. Finally, when that was over Micah and Al were so sweet and let us choose our own ice cream.”

-Ashley, 5^th Grade

Middle School Trip to New Orleans:

“We spent a lot of time on the road and we heard the country song ‘On the Road Again’ so many times on the trip. One day we were on the road for 19 hrs.  But we took breaks and we eventually made it to Tennessee where I built a tent for the first time. From there we traveled to many different states and learned about them all. We went lots of cool places, met lots of new people and tried lots of new food, like oysters. It was fun to watch everyone’s reactions as they tried them. We had such a great time; we laughed a lot, got to know each other much better, and experienced so many new things.”

-Celeste, 7^th Grade

High School Trip to Boston:

“As I reflect on the spring tour to Boston, I can’t believe how much I did in a short three days. Our first stop at the New Balance headquarters was amazing. I learned so much from how a shoe is designed, to how the company decides which shoes are released. The employees there were so nice and it was very generous of them to give us all a pair of sneakers. Our next stop on our whirlwind tour was Harvard University, where we meet our host Mr. Columbia. He made sure we had every opportunity to see and do as much as we could in Boston. We went on a duck boat tour, saw a Matisse exhibit, and went on a private tour of Fenway Park where I saw my first Red Sox game. We saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D, which is one of my absolute favorite memories of the trip. We took a water taxi ride and went to the aquarium where we got to touch stingrays. We also had very delicious meals. My favorite meal was breakfast at the Harvard Club. I’m still dreaming about those Nutella pancakes. Another unforgettable experience was going to MIT and meeting the former number one player Thierry Lincou. He told us about his way to the top and gave us great advice on how to be the best squash player. There is so much history in Boston and I felt like I really got to know the city well, and I can’t wait to return. I really appreciate CitySquash and Mr. Columbia for these opportunities.”
-Tita, 9^th Grade

CitySquash Brooklyn Trip to Charlottesville:

“My favorite part of the Spring Tour trip was learning about Thomas Jefferson when we visited Monticello, the house that he designed and lived in. Our tour did a good job of teaching us about the slavery there and I learned that Thomas Jefferson had children with a slave named Sally Hemings. Even though it’s a hard subject to talk about, it is important to remember all the good and bad parts of our founding fathers. As my coach said, ‘slavery happened and we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it.’ That really stuck with me and this trip gave me a new perspective on this topic.”
-Judah, 5th Grade

Seventy CitySquash team members from the Bronx and Brooklyn travelled to Philadelphia over the Martin Luther King Day Weekend for the 14th Urban Team Nationals hosted by the National Urban Squash and Education Association. CitySquash’s teams, ranging from the U13 to the U19 divisions, competed at SquashSmart’s  Lenfest Center, the Ringe Squash Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Kline & Specter Squash Center at Drexel University.  The NUSEA sponsored tournament brought together 19 NUSEA programs. CitySquash had an impressive run at the tournament by making it into 5 of the 8 division finals. In the end, CitySquash’s Brooklyn BU13, Bronx GU13 and Bronx BU15 teams came away with National Urban Squash Championship titles. This was the first ever Urban National Championship for our Brooklyn CitySquashers. Team members had a fantastic time at the tournament and played excellent squash. Thank you to NUSEA for running an exceptional event and to our amazing hosts for housing our team over the weekend. Congratulations to CitySquash’s winning teams and to all who participated!

Over the weekend of June 17-19, a record of 70 CitySquash team members competed at Urban Individual Nationals at Amherst and Williams Colleges. CitySquash had an incredibly successful tournament – with 9 players competing in the finals of their divisions and 5 ultimately winning national titles. In addition to these championship winners, Alexis Rios won the B division of the BU13 draw. Overall, CitySquash won a title in each age division, capturing more titles than any other urban program. Congratulations to all CitySquash team members who competed over the weekend and thank you to NUSEA and U.S. Squash for organizing a great event.

2016 City Squash Urban National Champions

GU13 – Lizbeth Barroso

BU15 – Jesse Brew

GU17 – Tyla McKenzie

BU17 – Dylan Ram

GU19 – Joana Pacheco

This Spring, Chris Fernandez, CitySquash alum and current Director of Squash, was featured in an article entitled “City to College to City” in the Spring 2016 edition of the St. Lawrence University Magazine.  The article chronicles Chris’s journey to and from the Bronx and his ultimate goal of giving back to the organization that he loves. Read about Chris’s journey to the Bronx and beyond by clicking here: St. Lawrence University Magazine.

On Saturday, March 19th, 99 team members from third through eighth grade gathered at Fordham University for the annual Project Sunshine community service day. Project Sunshine is a nonprofit organization that provides cards and craft kits for children in hospitals. The CitySquash team, which included mentors, staff, and volunteers, was provided with the materials, and students made SunnyGrams and personalized journals with encouraging messages, silly jokes, and their own artwork. CitySquashers enjoyed the opportunity for a creative outlet, as well as a lesson in the importance of giving back to the community through service. If you’d like to learn more about Project Sunshine, please visit http://www.projectsunshine.org/

On November 20^th, 60 CitySquash mentors and mentees headed to the Upper West Side to Chen Wang’s Table Tennis Club for the third annual mentor-mentee ping pong event. For many of our 5th grade team members, this was the first time that they were able to meet their mentees in-person. In addition to battling it out on the ping-pong tables, our mentors and mentees bonded over pizza, and had the chance to meet the club’s owner, Chen Wang, who was a bronze medalist in table tennis in the 2008 Olympics. Thank you to all who attended and for your help in supporting our team members!