The energy was high in Temple University’s Charles Library on Wednesday, March 12, as students from The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) and Universal Audenried Charter High School eagerly gathered for the first-ever Klein College Mock Pitch (KCMP).  The competition, hosted by Klein College of Media and Communication, challenged student teams…

By Christie Lleto, Monday, February 17. 2025 PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Her story has been rewritten. After 29 years, Philadelphia’s all-time leading scorer in girl’s basketball has a new queen. Universal Audenreid High School’s Shayla Smith officially recorded more than 2,500 career points, breaking a city record on Thursday. Her teammates and coaches cleared the bench and swarmed her…

By Mark Zimmaro: PA Times Shayla Smith is now the Public League’s all-time leading scorer. Smith, a senior at Universal Audenried Charter School in Grays Ferry, eclipsed a 29-year-old high school girls basketball record set by Shawnetta Stewart, who attended University City High School, which closed in 2013. Stewart, a 1996 graduate, later played at Rutgers…

By Christie Ileto Monday, January 13, 2025 5:41PM Click here to watch video on channel 6ABC PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Philadelphia basketball phenom Shayla Smith is scoring her way into the local record books. The high schooler has already surpassed the greats like Dawn Staley. Now Shayla is a couple of games and layups away from eclipsing title holder Shawnetta…

Article By: Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito) City of Basketball Love –– COLLEGEVILLE — Nasiaah Russell remembers the date. She remembers falling awkwardly. She remembers the searing heat that coursed through her lower right leg as she grabbed her knee crying on December 23, 2023, thinking the worst, thinking, “This is it, I’ll never play basketball again.” She was a big…

By Carly Sitrin | August 16, 2024 Full article on Chalkbeat ‘This is our classroom, this is our home’ Marissa Rivers is another former paraprofessional entering the 2024-2025 school year as a fully certified elementary school teacher at Universal Alcorn Charter School. Teaching is a second profession for Rivers. She started off in human resources and management, in…

By 6abc Digital Staff PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — As school districts across the country continue to face teacher shortages, Universal Charter schools in Philadelphia has gotten creative with the launch of their Aspiring Teachers initiative. The goal is to fill classrooms with homegrown talent. Talent like Marissa Rivers, who was once a substitute teacher but is now…