(Post) Pandemic Update

The Squash on Track students have continued to play Squash at Squash Zone during the latter part of the pandemic. The students have been coming in after-hours on Saturday evenings to play an hour of Squash and then work with volunteer high school tutors on some academic projects. Richard, with help from SZ junior Tanay Kapur, has been running the Squash portion of the session while high schoolers Aadi Chandran, Sam Griffin, Dhruv Ramani, and Harry Revenaugh have been running the academic segment of the program.

The students have been working on various science experiments, like the famous egg drop and baking soda volcano, computer coding on Scratch, and have been learning about space travel (space race and landings). Additionally, they worked on vocabulary and literary comprehension, and learned about/created their own Haikus!

Squash on Track Coding Lesson

While Squash on Track is out of session due to the Corona Virus, I would like to take some time to look back on an amazing Hour of Code event that Rachel Yun organized for us! Rachel Yun, 12, and a member of the club, volunteered to teach a programming lesson, at which the kids dipped their feet into an invaluable tool for their later life. 

Coding is extremely important because it gives children confidence, problem-solving abilities, opportunities for later careers, and lets them understand the way the world around them works, giving them a unique awareness about the machines surrounding them. Programming is embedded and utilized in our everyday lives, in that nearly all of the resources humans depend on rely on programming to function. Some examples are computers, iPhones, robots, and alas, as the kids enthusiastically pointed out - TV and video games.

Because coding is so important, millions of kids around the world are learning to program through a resource called Code.org’s Hour of Code. This one-hour programming tutorial takes them through an interactive, fun, and impactful series of problems. These problems cover the basic logic and thinking required to do advanced code - loops, variables, and more.

Rachel invited a team of squash students, parents, and friends to help out at the event. The lesson started with a couple of inspirational videos, followed by a talk from guest speaker Michelle Grau, the head programming teacher from Rachel’s school.

Afterward, the kids started coding. They were eager about the tutorial. Kids were encouraged to work at their own pace while helpers circled the room to give tips to those who needed assistance. At the end of the lesson, most of the kids had finished all thirty problems in the tutorial! Some had even moved on to Javascript and recursive coding.

An hour of coding later, the kids were introduced to their own class gift - a tiny Ozobot bit. This gadget enabled kids to code easily and gave them a way to code a real robot.

Following the Ozobot demonstration, volunteers held an ice cream party to commend the kids for their focus during the event.

Overall, the event was fun and the way the kids were connecting with technology was amazing to see. Hope the kids code again!

Squash on Track in the News!!!

Nathaniel Gerhard, son of one of our members, Stefan, recently came by to interview Richard Elliot, our executive director about the program and to sit it on one of our days of programming. You can view the article here. Take a look!!!

A day out in the community

Squash on Track recently had the privilege of doing some community. We went to Bedwell Bayfront Park on a recent Saturday to clean up the trash in the park because we believe in having a clean, safe environment for everyone to enjoy! Thank you to the staff at Bedwell Bayfront Park for letting us help you clean up! We can’t wait to come back soon!

Clinic with Amanda Sobhy

Squash on Track had the pleasure of getting on court with the one and only Amanda Sobhy! We had a fun time playing with her while learning a lot more about the game of squash! Thanks for coming, Amanda, and we hope you had a good time! We hope have you back again soon!

Netsuite Oracle Open

On Thursday September 27th, our Squash on Trackers spent their time raising funds and awareness for their program. They socialized with members of the club to share their experiences of the program while selling raffle tickets to raise funds for the program. The night was an all around success and we hope see everyone back again in the near future!

First meeting for Squash on Track Board

Nine holes of golf to celebrate the inaugural board meeting for Squash on Track

Team at Work

Richard and Aisling demonstrating squash to schools in Palo Alto

Squash on Track is Getting Ready to Launch!

Squash on Track is set to begin its after school program at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year in the new state-of-the-art Squash Zone facilities on Haven Avenue in Redwood City. The Squash on Track team is currently developing partnerships with schools and service providers. Please contact us if you are interested in partnering, getting involved, donating, or learning more.