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SquashSmarts Staff
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Stephen S. Gregg
Executive Director
since May 2004
215-895-4963
e-mail
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Steve joined SquashSmarts in May
2004 after spending four years at the United States Squash Racquets
Association as its first Director of Junior Development. Prior to the
USSRA, Steve gained valuable coaching, administrative and leadership
experience as a teaching pro and NCCA Division I college athlete at
Trinity College in Hartford, CT. “I consider myself fortunate to
lead a program whose mission provides opportunities for children to
become passionate about sports and education.” A four-year varsity squash player at
Trinity, Steve is a founding director of the National Urban Squash
Association, a former member of the USSRA Junior Committee and an active
member the Philadelphia Squash Association, the Racquet Club of
Philadelphia and various other civic organizations. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA,
Steve’s credentials include:
- U.S. Squash Racquets
Association, Director of Junior Development - Bala Cynwyd, PA
- New York Racquet & Tennis Club,
Teaching Professional - New York, NY
- U.S. National Skill Level
Champion, Squash - 5.0 Division
- New Haven Lawn Club, Head Squash
Professional - New Haven, CT
- Self-contained cross-country
bicycling expedition - Virginia to
Oregon
- Trinity College
- Hartford, CT
- The Taft School
- Watertown,
CT
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Jacob M. Greenbaum
Program Director
North & West
Philadelphia
since June
2006
215-895-4964
e-mail
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Jake joined SquashSmarts in June
2006 after two years in media services and community relations with the
Philadelphia Eagles. "Being around an NFL pro team was an
exceptional opportunity for me as far learning about organization,
motivation, fitness and team spirit... attributes that are key to
SquashSmarts success.” Jake initially served as SquashSmarts’
West Philadelphia Squash Director and was promoted to Program Director in
the Fall of 2008 to oversee all of the squash and academic staff. Jake
began playing squash locally at the Shipley School
and Germantown Cricket Club. He went on to play varsity squash for four
years at George
Washington University where he graduated in
2002 with a degree in Middle Eastern & Religious Studies. Under
Jake's leadership, G.W. gained varsity status and advanced from 34th to
20th in the nation. As captain,
Jake was recognized for his outstanding ability, attitude and leadership
skills. Jake was born in Philadelphia
and is delighted to live in the city he loves while teaching young people
the value of dedication through squash.
- Varsity squash team member and
captain at Shipley School - Bryn Mawr, PA
- Varsity squash team member and
captain at George Washington University
- Washington,
DC
- 2002 Squash Team MVP, George Washington
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Tariem A. Burroughs
Academic Director
North
Philadelphia
since
November 2006
215-895-4964
e-mail
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Tariem joined SquashSmarts in
November 2006 after spending two years in Americorps as a service leader
for City Year Greater Philadelphia. Prior to Americorps, Tariem worked as
a co-kindergarten teacher and after school supervisor at Peak’s
Little Angels. Tariem is a graduate of the University of Scranton
and earned a bachelors degree in elementary education. In addition to counseling youth at
various camps throughout his college career, Tariem has tutored
low-income college-bound youth and organized SAT prep curses for 11th
grade students. “I have seen how much the youth of this city need
good, healthy role models and a chance to believe that they can achieve.
I am lucky to be a part of a program whose goal is to provide
opportunities for youth to become passionate about sports and
education.” A native of Philadelphia,
Tariem's credentials include:
- Service Leader For City Year, Philadelphia, PA
- Tutor/Counselor For TRIO
Upward Bound, Philadelphia, PA
- University of Scranton,
Scranton, PA
- Bodine High School
for International Affairs, Philadelphia, PA
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Jeanie Shanahan
Executive Assistant
& Office Manager
since July
2007
215-221-6860
e-mail
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Jeanie Shanahan joined SquashSmarts in July 2007 after
working for the United States Squash Racquets Association for six years
as the Office Assistant and Office Manager. The USSRA introduced her to the game of
squash. “I am honored to
work with the students of SquashSmarts and interact and help with the
growth of the SquashSmarts community” With a city wide high school
dropout rate of over 50%, Jeanie feels strongly that “SquashSmarts
will enhance the high school and college student graduation rates and help
the students develop into solid citizens and community leaders in
Philadelphia.” Jeanie
resides in Haddon Heights,
New Jersey, is a mother of
five children and has five grandchildren.
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Katie Bicknese,
Academic
Director
West
Philadelphia
since
November 2007
215-895-4964
e-mail
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Katie joined SquashSmarts in
November of 2007 after spending two years with City Year Greater
Philadelphia where she first served as a corps member at Overbrook High School
in West Philadelphia providing classroom
assistance and running after-school programs. She then worked in the Development
Department raising money so that the next group of young idealists could
continue to make a difference in Philadelphia’s
communities. Katie discovered her
passion for community involvement at Penn State
where she served hundreds of hours with Alpha Phi Omega, a national
co-educational service fraternity.
Of all the community work she's done, Katie is most thrilled when
she sees a student's face light up after learning something
challenging. "After-school
programming is what made me enjoy my childhood and find a place for
myself. Nothing makes me happier
than being able to give such an incredible opportunity to today's
youth." Originally from Pittsburgh but most recently from Chester County,
Katie's credentials include:
- Development Associate and
Corps Member for City Year, Philadelphia,
PA
- Community Service Instructor
for Summer Study, University
Park, PA
- Member of Alpha Phi Omega
National Co-Educational Service Fraternity
- Penn
State University,
University Park, PA
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Guillermo
Moronta
Squash Director
West
Philadelphia
since
September 2008
215-895-4964
e-mail
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Guillermo joined the team in September 2008 as Squash
Director for West Philadelphia
operations. Guillermo began playing squash in 1996 as a member of the
first urban squash and education program, SquashBusters, in Boston, MA. Guillermo graduated from Tabor Academy
and was a four-year varsity squash player at Bates
College in Lewiston, ME
where he graduated in 2007 with a degree in economics. More recently, Guillermo taught Spanish
and mathematics at Portsmouth Abbey School
in Portsmouth, RI where he also served
as a houseparent and as the boy’s varsity and junior varsity squash
coach. “Teaching and coaching at a prep-school was an amazing
experience. I love working with kids, and working with SquashSmarts
provides me with an opportunity to continue making a difference in young
kids lives every day.” Guillermo’s personal goal? “I
want to be a coach who will always be there for his students so that they
have somewhere to turn to when life gets difficult.” Guillermo hails
from Cambridge, MA and has a black Labrador retriever named Tess.
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Dana Sanders Development Director
since July
2009
215-221-6860
e-mail
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Dana joint SquashSmarts in July 2009.
Prior to SquashSmarts, Dana spent six years with Comcast at their
corporate headquarters, most recently as Senior Federal Contract
Compliance Analyst for the entire enterprise. He was responsible for
responding to U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs’ audit requests and related requirements,
including preparing and submitting annual reports and filings. His
underlying passion for technology led him to create several solutions for
Comcast, including a system redesign that saved Comcast over $100,000
annually and reduced turnaround from 90 days to 24 hours. A native
Philadelphian, Dana is an alumnus of the Community Scholars Program of
Germantown Friends School, which provides students with financial
assistance to attend the private Quaker school. This opportunity gave
Dana the access and focus he needed to attend Emerson College
in 1989. “Being a community scholar at GFS taught me the value of
service and giving back through works and deeds.” Dana’s
energetic personality and strength as a writer and organizer will serve
him well in his new development role at SquashSmarts.
- Comcast, Senior Federal
Contract Compliance Analyst, Philadelphia,
PA
- Member of Society of Human
Resources Management (SHRM)
-Member of National Association
of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC)
- Member of Epsilon Omega Psi
Community Service Fraternity
- Emerson
College, Boston, MA
- Germantown
Friends School,
Philadelphia, PA
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Brett Camarda
Squash Director
North
Philadelphia
since August
2009
215-221-6860
e-mail
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Brett joined SquashSmarts in August 2009. He began playing squash at the Merion
Cricket Club and the Episcopal Academy while growing up in Haverford, PA. Brett graduated from St.
Paul’s School in Concord,
NH and was a 4-year varsity starter and
senior co-captain at Brown
University where he
graduated with a degree in East Asian Studies. Brett was first introduced to
SquashSmarts in 2007 when he spent the summer interning at the
organization. He spent the
following summer teaching at the Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul’s
School in order to gain valuable teaching and coaching experience. “I am unbelievably excited to be
able to re-join the SquashSmarts family and continue to work with
students – both familiar and new!”
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The Grad Squad
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Heather
Green

Allison Hart

Kento
Yasuhara

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SquashSmarts and Drexel University’s Clinical Psychology
Doctoral Program are partnering on a visionary study that will help
SquashSmarts engage its students and improve the effectiveness of its
academic curriculum.
Initiated in June 2006, a
graduate team (aka “The Grad Squad”) consisting of PhD doctoral
and masters candidates from Drexel University’s Psychology program
is helping SquashSmarts focus on two critical aspects of its after school
programming, specifically:
1.
Developing a longitudinal study of
SquashSmarts’ demographics and student population. Dating back to the program's inception,
the study will survey participants and paint a broad but in depth picture
of the teenage audience SquashSmarts has recruited and worked with since
its beginnings in 2001;
2.
Examining both the immediate and the long-term
impacts of SquashSmarts’ academic model on each class of students.
The goal is to provide insightful feedback on how SquashSmarts staff
member can enhance, replicate and improve the academic standards, methods
and overall programming.
The Grad Squad is supervised by
Dr. Kirk Heilbrun, a member of SquashSmarts’ Board of Directors and
the head of Drexel
University’s
Department of Psychology.
In June 2007, a year after the
study launched, the Eckerd Family Foundation announced a three-year
$141,000 grant in support of The Grad Squad’s evaluation study.
The mission of the Eckerd Family
Foundation involves promoting meaningful and lasting change in the lives
of vulnerable youth and their families.
Their support will further
enable the Grad Squad to measure the progress of SquashSmarts
participants in the areas of academic performance, academic achievement
skills, academic engagement, social competence and self-esteem over a
three-year period.
The project will also involve
the assessment of comparison participants who will be recruited from the
SquashSmarts’ partners schools and the surrounding community. Both
SquashSmarts and non-SquashSmarts participants will be given the same pre
and post-test measures.
Comparing SquashSmarts
participants with this control group will help the Grad Squad gauge the
impact of the SquashSmarts program on its participants as well as suggest
target outcome variables that other programs might consider.
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