Shipley savors Super Saturday; Squash and Rowing Center opened
Bryn Mawr – Super Saturday, a staple for the Shipley School community since it was first conceptualized 18 years ago, was created to bring a tight-knit community even closer, uniting the Lower, Middle and Upper Schools together through different events, including a carnival for the lower school students held in the gym accompanied by the high school sporting events – girls’ tennis, field hockey and boys’ and girls’ soccer matches – taking place throughout the day in front of fellow students, school administration and families.
“It’s one of my favorite days of the school year,” said All-School President Owen Verzella, a member of the baseball and basketball team. It’s always great to bring the entire school together.”
““We have been attending Super Saturday since my daughter Phoebe was in 4th grade and now she is a junior,” said John Fry, the President of Drexel University who served on the board at Shipley for many years. “We have been here and enjoyed this event over time – beginning when she was a little kid and now she is a big kid. It’s the best event of the year. It builds community. Shipley already has a strong family sense of itself thanks to Head of School Steve Piltch. It’s universally one of the beloved parts of the school year.”
Head of School Steve Piltch added, “Super Saturday captures the spirit of what the Shipley community is all about. We’re a school. We love our kids. They are bight, talented, and hard working. Most of all, we care about the people they are and the people they will become. Having families together here for Super Saturday to celebrate the ribbon cutting, participate in the fair, partake of the barbecue, and watch our teams compete is the essence of our community. I love it.”
Similar to prior years, the day kicked off with the high school students holding a carnival for the lower school kids featuring various games, activities and concessions. With the campus continuing to evolve, Shipley held a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the state of the art rowing and squash center.
Speaking at the ceremony was Former Board Member John Fry and All School President Owen Verzella, who also held the honor of cutting the ribbon.
“Today was a great day,” said Verzella. “Although I was only along for the ride the past three years it meant a lot to take part in the ribbon cutting ceremony with a short speech thanking everyone who the new rowing and squash center possible along with having the honor of cutting the ribbon.”
Prior to Verzella, John Fry shared his thoughts on the new center: “Squash is a sport in my mind that allows the student to learn the most about themselves due to the rigor of the game in terms of training and being prepared. A second benefit is teamwork and collaboration and the last thing is that it creates or of a wonderful community. You not only have the teams you play but you have alumni coming back you have little kids that you kind of recruit into the game and you have others from the community who love to watch. As a way of creating a nice community for Shipley this does a great job.”
With Super Saturday holding a special place in the hearts of the Shipley community, it’s the work behind the scenes leading unto this day that often goes unnoticed. During the year, Shipley holds four all-school assemblies. Last year Verzella proposed a fifth all-school assembly to build on Shipley’s history and feature the theme Acorns (kids in preK through 1st grade) to Oaks (seniors).
“I can’t tell you how flattered and pleased I was when a fifth all-school assembly was proposed,” Piltch said. “First of all, Owen is doing a great job. When he said he wanted to see the community become even closer and he and some of his classmates proposed adding an all- school assembly, we jumped at the opportunity because it came from our students. Given the opportunity on an on-going basis, they know what is necessary to build a community, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to help us get better. The students are awesome!”
