City Squash

Blog

Oct
06

Darrius Campbell Named 2012 BCF All-Star

CitySquasher and Blair Academy high school senior Darrius Campbell was honored at the Bulldogs Care Foundation (BCF) 6th Annual Tip Off To Success fundraiser. Darrius was named one of BCF’s five 2012 All-Stars, a designation awarded to high-achieving athletes from urban athletic programs. Darrius was recognized for his transformation on and off the court: becoming a conscientious student, a great squash player (he plays #1 on his boarding school team), and a leader on campus as a dorm proctor. CitySquash recognizes all of Darrius’ hard work and achievements, and congratulate him on this honor.

Oct
01

Apple Picking with Teri Galluccio

This past week, CitySquashers in Elementary School were lucky enough to take a trip to Goshen, CT for some autumnal fun at Mr. and Mrs. Galluccio’s orchards. Students were given free range to pick as many apples as their hearts desired from the organic apple trees. After filling their baskets, they got to help Mrs. Galluccio make fresh apple cider with her vintage apple press! The taste-test confirmed that fresh cider is indeed tastier than store-bought cider. Students spent the rest of the afternoon chasing Mrs. Galluccio’s adorable dog Beamer and swinging from her giant backyard tire swing. They left that evening with baskets of apples and gift bags containing a recipe and ingredients for home-made apple crisp! Surely, it was a day that will be remembered for quite a while. A big thank you to the Galluccios!

Sep
12

New College and Boarding School Students

Over the past few weeks, five CitySquashers have started their first year of boarding school, and nine CitySquashers have headed off to their freshman year of college. In total, since our launch in 2002, 43 CitySquash students have won scholarships to private high schools, and 28 CitySquashers currently attend college. Good luck to these team members as they settle into their new schools!

 
Boarding Schools                                             
Jeremy Carrasquillo – Suffield Academy          

Cristian Escalona – Episcopal High School       

Bryson Grant – Canterbury School                         

Karina Lazaro – Tabor Academy                             

Esmeralda Mejia  – Loomis Chaffee          

 

Colleges

Doris Amoako – SUNY Morrisville

Maria Avila – Bronx Community College

Frank Garcia – Mt. St. Vincent College

Cris Margaret Frias – Franklin & Marshall College

Santiago Moran – Connecticut College   

Manuela Perez – Barnard College

Criselys Polanco – Hamilton College

Lanique Rhyne – Lehman College

Katiria Sanchez – Trinity College

Aug
31

Summer Travels, Camps, and Tournaments

This summer found a record number of CitySquashers touring across the United States for camps, tournaments, and home stays. The eight tournaments they competed in took place in locations such as Williamstown, MA, Southampton, NY, Middlesex, MA, Newport, RI, and Denver, CO. Sixty-eight CitySquashers attended overnight camps, from Camp Herrlich in Patterson, NY to the David Palmer Squash Academy in Orlando, FL. In total, ten states were visited by our team members and six students traveled to their destinations by plane. We are very thankful to the 15 families that hosted CitySquashers during tournaments or as part of our Summer Match program. Five CitySquash families billeted out-of-town urban squash students as well, for StreetSquash’s NUSEA Discovery Camp. A big thank you to the Ganek family for hosting a BBQ for CitySquash in Southampton on Sunday, August 12th. It was a successful and memorable summer, and couldn’t have been possible without our many supporters. Thank you!

Jul
31

CitySquash Celebrates Five New Boarders

CitySquash held its 8th Annual Boarder Send-Off on Wednesday, July 25th at supporters Cayre and Alexis Michas’s apartment in Manhattan. Friends of CitySquash, mentors, families, staff, boarding school students and past graduates celebrated the beginning of another school year and honored CitySquash’s five new boarding school students: Karina Lazaro (Tabor Academy), Esmeralda Mejia (Loomis Chaffee), Miguel Betances (Trinity-Pawling), Jeremy Carrasquillo (Suffield Academy), and Bryson Grant (Canterbury School). Peter Frew, Director of Admissions at The Taft School, spoke about the importance of the relationships made in boarding school, especially with faculty, staff and coaches. CitySquash’s older boarders offered a piece of advice each to our new boarders, highlighting the need to work hard, have fun, and try new things. Chef Rob prepared delicious, healthful food for all of our guests. Thanks to all of our supporters who came to this wonderful event and we wish our students another successful year at their respective schools!

Jul
17

CitySquash Students Dine with New Yorker Writer

As part of CitySquash’s Career Dinner series, eight CitySquash college and high school students shared a meal with New Yorker staff writer (and avid squash player) Tad Friend. The group discussed not only Tad’s insights about journalism and the writing process–including an in depth discussion of Tad’s 2003 New Yorker piece “Jumpers” which the students read beforehand– but also advice about choosing a line of work. The dinner is a part of a larger series that connects CitySquash students to professionals in various fields to talk about the industry and career choice. Special thanks go out to CitySquash supporters Angela and Michael Laskoff for hosting the event.

 

If you are interested in talking to students as part of the Career Dinner Series, please contact Director of College Prep Peter Feldman at 718-220-7400 or peter.feldman@xh3.1cf.mywebsitetransfer.com

Jun
25

Six More Titles at Urban Individuals

On Friday June 15th, 35 CitySquashers and several staff and student volunteers piled into the bus en route to Williams College for the 10th Annual Urban Individual Nationals. For our team members, Urban Individuals is one of the most important competitions of the year and this year was another huge success. Our team members made up twelve of the event’s sixteen finalists and brought home five out of the eight titles. 6th grader Robert Williams beat out teammate (and step brother!) Eric Molina to win the Boys Under 13 division. In an impressive display of Urban Squash’s values, Joana Pacheco won both the U13 squash title and the U13 writing contest with her poem on the topic of strengths. Andreina Benedith had a strong finish as the Girls Under 17 division winner while Kingsley Amoako also took the U17 title for the boys. A star on his high school squash team and the CitySquash team alike, Andrew Cadienhead was victorious in the U19 Boys division beating his CitySquash teammate and close rival, Darrius Campbell. CitySquash now boasts a record 63 Urban National Titles. Congratulations to the entire CitySquash team for representing us so well!

Jun
13

Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Win Inaugural Bash Bank Competition

The inaugural CitySquash Bank Competition, held in conjunction with the 10th Anniversary Bash, pitted the largest banks on Wall Street against each other in a friendly competition to see which firms could raise the most money and bring in the most donors for CitySquash. At the end of the two month race, 149 donors contributed and more than $265,000 was raised by the ten participating firms. A special thanks to the winners, Goldman Sachs, which raised the most funds ($174,000) and J.P. Morgan, which brought in the most individual donors (49). The other participating banks were Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Lazard, Morgan Stanley, and UBS. Thanks to all of the participating banks for their hard work and generosity and thanks to the bank captains for helping make the competition such a success!

Jun
11

Cadienhead Elected Taft Student Body President

Two weeks ago, at the culmination of his junior year, Andrew Cadienhead was elected president of the student body of The Taft School in Watertown, CT. Andrew has had a history of leadership at Taft, starting in 2009 when he was elected as the president of the freshman class. Andrew also served as captain of the Taft boy’s squash team during the 2011-2012 season and will retain his captaincy for his senior year. As school president (or head monitor as they refer to it at Taft) Andrew will lead a group of twelve school prefects, arrange weekend activities for the students, sit on the disciplinary and honor committees and give a speech at the freshman orientation and his own graduation. Andrew has been a CitySquash team member since sixth grade and was voted CitySquasher of the Year in 2009. CitySquash is proud of Andrew’s accomplishments and confident that he will do well in his new leadership role.

Apr
19

What a Trip! The 2012 CitySquash Bermuda Tour

Eight CitySquash students, two staff members and one parent traveled to Bermuda from April 9 – 14 for the 2012 CitySquash Bermuda Tour. The trip, which was funded by generous donations from CitySquash supporters, was much more than just a vacation. Throughout the week, the CitySquash team visited both ends of the island, played squash every morning, competed in a tournament against the local juniors, visited numerous historical and cultural sights, and of course spent plenty of time on the beach! The Bermuda tour provided our students with many first-time experiences including, for some, the first time on a plane and the first time out of the United States. The students were able to learn about the culture of another country and see how people from a different part of the world live. Thanks to all of the supporters and host families that made this trip a reality!