Students Awash in Squash

What is the most effective way to break the cycle of poverty for kids and motivate them to enter college or trade school to make something of themselves? Answer: Capture their imagination and interest. then direct them down a new life-path. 

I am talking about a program with the unlikely name of Santa Barbara School of Squash (SBSOS) which has as its primary focus the promotion of a small group (30) of motivated youngsters, taking them from their humble surroundings and opening up a new world through the discipline and athleticism of mastering a sport combined with academic tutoring, a dose manners and discovery. Their goal is 100-percent high school graduation rates for their kids and to make sure they are either college-bound or have an alternative education plan.

When I spoke with the director, Robert Graham, about this program he replied with his British accent, “Our Mission Statement is ‘Helping Students Succeed in Life through Squash and Education.’ We are small and the atmosphere feels more like a family, and so, we can be more effective with our students in this after-school program. We get to know them and earn their trust, then coach them in academics as well as the sport of squash to improve school grades and their bodies. 

“We have a speaker series with local individuals and business leaders and expose the kids to possible paths in their life; we have field trips, students do 15+ hours of community service each year, and we get them to think about their future. We run our program over the summer weeks too and keep contact with our students who have gone on to college, sending them quarterly ‘care’ packages.”

Santa Barbara School of Squash is a member of, and uses the best practices of, the national organization Squash Education Alliance. Starting at 4^th grade and all the way through high school, SBSOS takes a select group of committed low-income public-school kids, and has each one sign a contract – along with their parents – spelling out the level of commitment SBSOS expects; a contract that they must all sign and re-commit to each year. 

Once in the program, they are swept up after school three days a week throughout the year and brought into a new environment of athletics, learning, and high expectations imbued with the notion that they will go to college, the first in their family. This is something these kids never experienced, and it lifts them to higher aspirations because that is the atmosphere and energy that the SBSOS staff assistant directors, Rebecca Walsh and Hannah Vidmar, bring to this program.

SBSOS has been in operation since 2006 and the results are paying off, as many “graduates” have entered college receiving more than $2.2 million in collective scholarships for entering colleges such as Berkeley, USC, and Bates and local private schools, Laguna Blanca, and Garden Street Academy. That is a huge accomplishment for such a relatively small program of 30 kids! And this has been made possible by the generous donations from local Montecito and Santa Barbara residents and local foundations.

Robert explained that SBSOS is attempting their first large fundraiser this year and hopes the community will get behind it and support it. He explained, “We are trying to have an elegant evening event where people can have fun and enjoy themselves, plus help support the kids at the same time. One of our board members, Brendan Searls, owns the Viva Restaurant in La Arcada Court,beside the turtle fountainand that is where it willbe held. The event is titled’Viva Las Vegas’ and naturally has a casino theme and will have a special guest appearance that night. Save the date, October 14, a Sunday, 5 pm. I hope you all will come!” 

Okay, Robert, you convinced me; I’ll be there.

Save the Date: The evening of Sunday, October 14, at Viva in La Arcadia Court
Contact: Santa Barbara School of Squash, 1530 Chapala St., Suite F, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

www.SBSOS.org