1. Heads in the Game
photo by Patrick Montero"If you click on the website for the nonprofit sports-based Harlem Lacrosse —where Joel Censer (Haverford '08) is now chief program officer after starting out as a coach—you’ll notice something quirky. The very last thing on the organization’s list of its supports for at-risk students is ... “lacrosse instruction.”
That’s by design according to Censer, who joined in 2013 as the second of two employees and watched Harlem Lacrosse expand outside of New York City to Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.
The goal is to have a lacrosse coach in schools all day to help students find success—both academic and in their everyday lives—by using the stick-and-ball team sport based on Native American games as the vehicle for helping kids “reach their full personal potential.” Graduates of Harlem Lacrosse have gone on to attend independent and boarding schools, and been accepted to colleges receiving close to 40 million dollars in scholarship offers in the process." >> Why It Matters: Before Censer was hired, he was writing features at USLacrosse Magazine and working with a professor at George Mason who was researching best practices in juvenile justice. "I was becoming interested in social justice issues in lacrosse, where there are real problems around equity and access. I had spent lots of time researching the history of the game and all that time learning and even reading lacrosse message boards helps me with what I do now. I wouldn’t have that knowledge if I didn’t have an interest in the community." >> The Big Picture: The organization is built around the idea of the unique presence and power of a coach. It was started by a teacher in a New York City middle school who was struggling to connect with his special education class. One day, he brought the students to a nearby handball court and taught them lacrosse. The kids later had the highest test scores of any special education class in the history of the school. >> Between The Lines: The big thing about Harlem Lacrosse is there’s no barrier to entry—there are no cuts and no costs to be on the team. Anyone who wants to play can play, and parents don’t have to drive their kid to a field. But the requirement is that students have to attend study hall and be invested. >> Keep Reading courtesy of Charles Curtis, Haverford Magazine | 
Trey Barber led a balanced attack with 15 points as 
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