With the help of CitySquash’s Career Placement Program, 13 of our college students were able to land various internships this summer. ABC News, Fresh Direct, The Environmental Defense Fund, and johnnie-O Apparel were among this summer’s employers of our college students. These internships are located all over the US, including New York City, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Texas, and Arizona. Students were also invited to a NUSEA sponsored pre-internship Professionalism Boot Camp where they learned about workplace etiquette and practices, including inter-office communication, dressing for success, and proper email structure. Throughout the year, our Career Mentors supported our team members in this process by helping to write and edit resumes and cover letters, and volunteering for our Mock Interview and Career Fair events. Across the board, our college students have gained a lot of valuable experience with the career process and from their various internships this summer. If you are interested in being a Career Mentor or helping out with CitySquash’s Career Events please email us at info@xh3.1cf.mywebsitetransfer.com! 

Kingsley Amoako – StreetSquash
Andreina Benedith – Fresh Direct
Andrew Cadienhead – Johnnie-O Apparel
Darrius Campbell – Squash & Beyond  
Fernando Flores – Environmental Defense Fund
Michael Kelly – Bridger Logistics 
Cris Margaret Frias – U.S. Squash
Stacy Maceda – Donors Choose
Mariela Mendoza – Fresh Direct
Santiago Moran – ABC News
Marisela Palafox – Teach For America
Laura Polanco – Lafayette College Department of Biology
Criselys Polanco – Office of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

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, 4^th 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, 11^th 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, 5^th 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, 9^th Grade 

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.

During the last week of April, CitySquash coaches and academic staff will be taking team members on squash and enrichment trips near and far. We’ll be hitting the road and travelling both north and south, east and west – team members will visit Canada, Florida, and both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans! Elementary students will spend a ‘Night at the Museum’ in Philadelphia, while middle schoolers help clean up the Everglades. Between visiting southern plantations, cheering on NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, and exploring the Canadian wilderness, our team members are sure to have a spring break worth remembering!

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/

March has been an exciting month for us in the Bronx as we learned that all six of our CitySquashers who applied to private high school this year have been admitted! Below is the list of the team members and their school acceptances. It will be the first time that we will be sending team members to Pomfret, Ethel Walker, and the Rectory School. Come the fall, CitySquash will have sent 63 team members off to private high schools. Congratulations to these lucky team members and thank you to all of our supporters for making it all possible.