SquashSmarts, the award-winning Philadelphia youth enrichment program, celebrated its past and future at the 2025 Comcast Business U.S. Open Squash Championships Monday, October 20. More than 300 SquashSmarts staff members, students, parents, donors, advisors, and board members attended the SquashSmarts VIP Night, celebrating the ongoing success of the program while enjoying the display of world-class squash at the U.S. Open.
Founded in 2001, SquashSmarts is now entering its twenty-second season. A 501(c)3 non-profit, SquashSmarts is an award-winning, free, intensive, out-of-school academic and athletic mentoring program changing the lives of Philadelphia’s public-school students. Students are recruited in middle school from Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary, Neuva Esperanza Academy Charter, Science Leadership Academy, Carver School for Engineering & Science, and Overbrook Educational Center. Operating out of two facilities—the Lenfest Center in North Philadelphia and Arlen Specter US Squash Center—the program has students attend practices three days a week for seven years.