Inspiring young people to make a difference
July 16 23, 2015
What does it mean to be an engaged citizen? What are the different ways that each of us can make a difference in our respective communities? The Urban Squash Citizenship Tour will give 22 civicallyminded and academicallyaccomplished high school and college students from across the country the opportunity to explore these questions during an 8day trip that will begin in New York City and end in Washington, DC. Stops will include Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The Citizenship Tour seeks to inspire students across the country to be civically engaged, to become informed citizens and to highlight the importance of public service within the country’s 17 urban squash programs. The trip will focus on the topic of civil rights and its role in shaping our nation’s identity, politics, and history.
During the trip, students will spend time with leaders in government, journalism, education, policy and the nonprofit community; visit sites that have played a part in American history; engage with local urban squash programs; exercise and practice at university and urban squash facilities; and promote NUSEA’s local member programs and urban squash generally.
Highlights of this year’s Tour include meetings with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, S enator Bob Menendez, S enator K irsten Gillibrand, A cting Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions U.S. Department of the Treasury A mias Gerety, A merican legal scholar C ass Sunstein, and Commissioner of NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs N isha Agarwal.
Cities: N ew York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC
Tour Preparation: Prior to the Tour, students will read select materials (articles, book chapters, etc.) related to the people and organizations they will learn about and the sites they will visit during the Tour.
Squash: Along the Tour, students will train with other urban squashers and community leaders. Students will face individuals such as Senator Gillibrand on court in friendly squash matches. Local news organizations will be invited to cover the matches as a way to promote the local urban squash program and urban squash generally.
Guest Speakers: Each day the group will meet with individuals who work in the fields of journalism, government, education, policy and nonprofit leadership.
Member Programs: Students on the Tour will connect with local NUSEA programs including StreetSquash in Harlem and Newark, CitySquash in the Bronx, SquashSmarts in Philadelphia, and SquashWise in Baltimore.
Itinerary
The activities, timing and sequence of events each day are subject to change, and depend on the schedules of the Tour’s guests speakers.
Thursday, July 16: New York City Students arrive in New York City; NY Times tour; squash training and meeting with Cass Sunstein at the Harvard Club
Friday, July 17: New York City Mayor’s Office tour; meeting with Commissioner of NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Nisha Agarwal; 9/11 museum and monument tour
Saturday, July 18: New York City, Philadelphia Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour; drive to Philadelphia; Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park
Sunday, July 19: Philadelphia, Baltimore Independence Hall and Liberty Bell tour; volunteer and squash training at SquashSmarts; drive to Baltimore
Monday, July 20: Baltimore, Washington DC Volunteer and squash training at SquashWise; drive to Washington DC; monuments tour
Tuesday, July 21: Washington DC Capitol Hill tour; squash training and meeting with Senator Gillibrand; afternoon meeting with Senator Menendez; Urban Squash Citizenship Tour reception at the Metropolitan Club
Wednesday, July 22: Washington DC Department of Treasury tour and meeting with Amias Gerety; meeting with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the Department of Education
Thursday, July 23: Washington DC Supreme Court and White House tour; students depart
NUSEA’s mission is to support the creation, development and improvement of urban squash and education programs across the United States and around the world. We strive to achieve our mission in three main ways:
● Helping to launch new urban squash programs ● Supporting urban squash programs by identifying best practices, creating forums to share ideas, and providing grants and other financial support ● Organizing urban squash tournaments, camps and other events that promote learning, health, integrity, and the pursuit of excellence
NUSEA has 17 member programs in 17 U.S. cities that enroll yearround more than 1,500 elementary, middle, high school and college students. These nonprofit organizations provide intensive afterschool, weekend and summer programming that includes academics, squash, mentoring, community service, college placement and more. In order to become, and remain, a member of NUSEA, programs are required to meet a range of criteria which demonstrate that they are organizationally sound and that they provide their students with intensive, yearround support. NUSEA does not control or manage our member programs. NUSEA’s role is to provide a framework in which ideas can be shared and best practices identified. NUSEA leads and supports member programs through our collective expertise and leverage our role as a national organization to organize tournaments and camps across the country, raise funds for member programs, and help start new programs in cities that do not have them.
Urban Squash History
1995 – Two years after writing a graduate school term paper entitled ‘Bringing Squash Down from the Ivory Tower, the Creation of an Urban Squash and Education Program’, former professional squash player Greg Zaff launches SquashBusters in Boston. The afterschool program, which serves 28 students from two public middle schools, is the first of its kind to combine the sport of squash with academic tutoring, mentoring and community service activities. With a $75,000 budget and an ‘office’ in Greg’s apartment, SquashBusters runs practices and tutoring sessions at the Boston YMCA, the Harvard Club of Boston, and Harvard University.
1999 – George Polsky, a teacher and social worker and former Harvard squash player, launches S treetSquash in Harlem. The program runs practices out of the Harvard Club of New York and Columbia University… Two SquashBusters students win scholarships to private high schools, the first of many urban squash players to do so.
2000 – A group of Philadelphia squash enthusiasts – Matt Stern, Lisa Stokes, Andy Nehrbas, Pam Ende, Ben Desombre and Fred Guyott – launch S quashSmarts in partnership with Drexel University in West Philadelphia.
2002 – Sanford Schwartz, a squash player and squash parent, starts C itySquash on the Bronx campus of Fordham University, giving the Big Apple a second urban squash program.
2003 – SquashBusters opens the $6 million B adgerRosen Youth Center, with eight squash courts and three classrooms, on the campus of Northeastern University… Groton School, a boarding school in Groton, MA, hosts the inaugural U rban Individual Nationals. The event draws more than 100 players from the country’s four urban squash programs.
2004 – The inaugural U rban Team Nationals is held in Boston at SquashBusters, drawing students from Boston, Harlem, the Bronx and Philadelphia.
2005 – The leaders of the country’s four urban squash programs — Steve Gregg, George Polsky, Tim Wyant, and Greg Zaff — cofound the N ational Urban Squash and Education Association in partnership with U.S. SQUASH, and William E. Simon Jr. signs on to be the board chair… Conor O’Malley, a teaching pro in Chicago, founds M ETROsquash. Based at the University of Chicago, the program is the first outside of the East Coast.
2006 – SquashSmarts’s Tempest Bowden becomes the first urban squash player to qualify for the U.S. Nationals, an event open to the country’s top 32 players.
2007 –Annick Winokur, Pug Winokur and a group of Yale Universityaffiliated squash supporters launch S quash Haven at Yale in New Haven, CT… Led by Greg Scherman and Chris Walker, a group of San Diego squash enthusiasts start Surf City Squash, now A ccess Youth Academy, giving the West Coast its first urban squash program … SquashSmarts’s $12 million Lenfest Center, with eight squash courts and three classrooms, opens in North Philadelphia.
2008 – With H illary Clinton in attendance, the $9 million S .L. Green StreetSquash Youth Center, w ith eight courts and four classrooms, opens in Harlem. Mile High Squash, founded by Greg Courter, launches at the Denver Athletic Club… Assisted by a NUSEA challenge grant, a group of squash players in Baltimore, including Charlie Wise, Nancy Cushman, Peter Heffernan, and Abby Markoe, launch S quashWise at the Meadow Mill Athletic Club.
2009 – Days after being admitted to Cornell University, CitySquash’s Jesse Pacheco finishes 5th in the Under 19 division of the U.S. Open, one of the world’s most competitive junior squash tournaments.
2010 – NUSEA launches R acquet Up, its 10th member program, at the Northwest Activities Center in Detroit… The $1 million renovation of the Fordham UniversityCitySquash Squash Center is completed.
2011 – NUSEA launches B eyond Walls Twin Cities in Minneapolis – St. Paul… SquashBuster Yuleissy Ramirez begins her freshman year at Harvard University, becoming the first urban squash player to attend the country’s oldest college.
2012 – First Lady M ichelle Obama promotes Let’s Move!, her nutrition and health initiative, at SquashSmarts’s Lenfest Center… Access Youth Academy’s Reyna Pacheco is admitted to Columbia University on a Gates Millennium Scholarship… The S anta Barbara School of Squash becomes NUSEA’s 12th member program and the West Coast’s 2nd… StreetSquash launches a satellite program in N ewark, NJ and SquashBusters launches a program Lawrence, MA, based at B rooks School and P hillips Academy… The U rban Squads program is launched to provide more intensive training opportunities for urban squash’s hardest working and most accomplished players… The combined enrollment of yearround students at NUSEA’s 12 member programs tops 1,000 students.
2013 – Oakland’s S quashDrive, founded by executive director Lauren Patrizio; U rban Squash Cleveland, led by Max Laverty; and S treetSquash Newark, led by Leah Brown, become NUSEA’s 13th, 14th, and 15th members, respectively… The M idwestern Urban Squash Championships, the first major urban squash tournament held outside the northeastern United States, takes place at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio… NUSEA partners with Exeter Academy and begins sending 10 students each summer to Exeter’s Summer School... NUSEA’s International Fund, aimed at developing and engaging urban squash programs abroad, is launched.
2014 – NUSEA helps launch four new programs: C incinnati Squash Academy, C apitol Squash in Hartford, CT, Steel City Squash in Pittsburgh, PA, and S quash Urbano Colombia in Cartagena… NUSEA welcomes three programs to be International Affiliates: U rban Squash Toronto, Egoli Squash in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Khelshala in Chandigarh, India… NUSEA takes 22 students on the inaugural C itizenship Tour, stopping in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington DC to meet with U.S. Representative and civil rights icon John Lewis of Georgia, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Environmental Defense Fund CEO Fredd Krupp, former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis and Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick.
2015 With 20 programs across the country and around the world now operating under its umbrella, NUSEA celebrates U rban Squash’s 20th Anniversary Weekend in New York City. Over 1,250 people attend the three days of events and raise $2 million for urban squash. The weekend's highlight is the Gala Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, honoring two decades of urban squash milestones and including a welcome video greeting by First Lady M ichelle Obama.