Friends of Urban Squash Letter from National Director Tim Wyant December 19, 2015
Friends of NUSEA,
In January, 1,250 people gathered in New
York City to celebrate the 20th anniversary of urban squash's launch.
It was the first time the entire urban squash community had come
together. Attendees included six former world No. 1 squash players,
leaders and supporters of 26 urban squash programs worldwide, and over
400 urban squash students and alumni. First Lady Michelle Obama kicked
off the gala dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel with a video greeting,
acknowledging the "outstanding work of the urban squash movement and
NUSEA." The weekend raised a record $2 million for urban squash. It was
an inspiring start to 2015.
Membership grows to 22 programs
With the addition of programs in Hartford,
Cincinnati, and Charleston, NUSEA concludes the year with 18 member
organizations in the U.S. and four international affiliates that
together serve over 2,000 students and young adults. 170 individuals
are now employed by our programs nationwide, and thousands volunteer.
The combined annual budget of NUSEA and our member programs exceeds $10
million. Chicago's MetroSquash opened its own $8 million youth center
with squash courts and classrooms. Startups in Pittsburgh, Houston, and
Atlanta aim to become NUSEA members this upcoming year. As the movement
gains awareness inside and outside the U.S., NUSEA continues to work
with local leaders to start new programs. Wilmington, Sao Paulo, and
Cairo are among the cities where we're working to launch programs next.
Developing leaders and evaluating programs
One of NUSEA's most important functions is
to identify and promote best practices among our member programs. We
continue to work closely with programs to collect and share
information, and we lead annual, peer-led evaluations of our members.
In an effort to deepen the bench of urban squash's future leaders,
NUSEA launched a year-long fellowship program for 12 promising young
staff members across the country. We also created a national database
that tracks all of the high school graduates of our member programs.
The database enables programs to study student outcomes on a
comparative basis and encourages collaborative efforts between
programs.
Organizing educational and athletic events across the country
With the help of our institutional
partners, notably US Squash, NUSEA continued to provide rich
educational and athletic opportunities to our students and alumni. The
University of Virginia joined Stanford and Deerfield Academy in hosting
NUSEA-run squash camps for our top players. Similar to our partnership
with Phillips Exeter Academy, the Taft School began providing our
highest-achieving students with scholarships to its 5-week summer
school. Williams, Amherst, Kenyon, Denison, Trinity, Fordham, and Yale
welcomed hundreds of students to their campuses for tournaments.
Twenty-two high school and college students participated in NUSEA's
week-long Citizenship Tour, meeting with political leaders such as
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Alumni from the Bronx, Harlem, and
Boston traveled to Colombia to volunteer for our program in Cartagena.
In all, almost 1,000 students participated in the more than 20
tournaments, camps, and educational programs that NUSEA organized and
funded in 2015.
278 students enrolled in college today
Most important, our students and alumni
continue to work hard and make the most of their urban squash
experiences. From Minneapolis to Santa Barbara, Denver to Philadelphia,
Toronto to Johannesburg, young people in low-income communities are
fulfilling the promise of the urban squash model. They are developing
as students and athletes, giving back to the community, and learning
character-building lessons that will serve them well in life. Of our
435 students who have graduated from U.S. high schools, 98% have gone
on to post-secondary schools. Today, 278 urban squashers are enrolled
in college (57 of whom play college squash) and many attend the
country's most selective schools, such as Bowdoin, Dartmouth,
Northwestern, and UC Berkeley.
Thank you
On behalf of NUSEA and our member programs,
thank you for making all of this possible. You are the reason that the
urban squash movement continues to grow larger and stronger. As you
plan your year-end giving, we hope you will consider supporting NUSEA.
Contributions can be made by check or by clicking on the donate link
below.
Happy holidays and all the best in 2016.
Tim Wyant Executive Director NUSEA
P.S. If you'd like to see photos of some of the great things our students and programs have done this year, click here.
