SquashBusters was the first youth enrichment program of its kind – combining squash, academics, and community service.
SquashBusters
follows team members through two challenging school transitions - from
middle school to high school, and from high school to college or work.
Some of the choices available during these transitions can be overwhelming;
others can be invisible. For these reasons, SquashBusters provides school
placement counseling to its team members. Our program directors provide
individualized guidance and support to team members and families as they
select the next school or step together with their child. We have resources
and counseling in place for both high school and college placement. For
the transition to high school, our program directors bring a wide breadth
of knowledge about high school options in New England, and the advantage
that they know students and families very well, having worked closely
with them for three years.
The high school counseling program began when a small number of first team members expressed an interest in exploring their options for attending an independent high school. Though it is neither our focus nor our main goal to send our students to private high schools, since SquashBusters began seven years ago, twenty-three SquashBusters have been accepted to independent high schools on full scholarship, including Middlesex, Beaver Country Day, Tabor, Wilbraham and Monson, Berkshire Country Day School, the Fay School, and Governor Dummer Academy.
For college counseling, SquashBusters teams up with The Bottom Line,
a non-profit organization that counsels Boston Public School students
to college. Counselors spend time getting to know each student, expanding
their awareness of themselves and the school choices that are out there.
Counselors present students and their families with a wide range of options,
from technical to liberal arts colleges to community colleges, and provide
individualized guidance throughout the application and matriculation process.
Since the program’s beginnings, SquashBusters team members have
an 84% matriculation rate from the high school to college.