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SquashWise Takes Students to Boston
Several afternoons a week, Anthony and 27 other middle school students from Booker T. Washington and Civitas Middle/High School spend time at Meadow Mill Athletic Club, playing squash, doing homework and honing their social and academic skills. These students don’t hold memberships to Meadow Mill, a private club, but belong to SquashWise, an urban squash league for students in Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools). Most had never played Team members with positive attitudes—and who turn in their homework on time—earn a spot on the bus to Boston or Philadelphia, the sight of this year’s two tournaments. The trips offer a chance to bond with teammates outside of school, meet squash players from across the country and take in new sights. In Boston, they’ll tour Northeastern and Harvard Universities and stay in hotels nearby.
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Sixth grader Anthony Douglas dashes for the ball and fires back with a forearm. His partner, another 6th grader from Booker T. Washington Middle School, scurries crosscourt but misses the return by a smidgen. Practicing like this since the start of the school year, these students and 10 others head for Boston today for the Urban Squash Team Championships, a national squash tournament with 600 participants. 
squash before joining the non-profit, after-school program, now in its second year. “But that didn’t matter,” says SquashWise Executive Director Abby Markoe, who played squash in college and started the program after seeing a need for positive after-school environments in Baltimore. “What mattered more was attitude,” she adds, pointing to a core part of the program: to help kids develop good sportsmanship and respect for themselves and others.
Organized by the 
