NJTL Network: Sharing Our Stories - Advantage Lancaster
USTA Middle States is continuing its content series, Sharing Our Stories, that celebrates the life-changing, positive impact that our local National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network is making. Through human interest stories and spotlights, Sharing Our Stories will showcase many of the remarkable individuals and programs within our NJTL network who are following the USTA Foundation's mission of bringing tennis and education together to change lives.
For more information about the Middle States NJTL Network, please contact Renée Bridges, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: bridges@ms.usta.com. For more information about donating to the USTA Foundation, please click here.
What’s in a name?
If you ask the founders of Advantage Lancaster, Shayne Meadows and Ty Bair, they’ll tell you that there is a whole lot to a name. The program's original name, Exit Lancaster, was born from a reality they observed in their neighborhood.
“My brothers had never seen anything beyond Lancaster City,” Bair said. “And I thought about how many kids are living in that same situation. We wanted them to exit any excuse that they might have had that they couldn't make it in life.”
With that, and in memory of his late brothers, it started as a single summer project and quickly took on a life of its own.
"I was like, ‘Okay, we did a great job,’” Bair said. “But Mr. Meadows said something that was profound. He said, ‘Once you step into a young person’s life, you can’t just step out if you really want change to happen.’ And so, we decided that we were going to stay with these kids as long as they wanted to stay with us.”
That promise turned a temporary summer trial into a permanent commitment that has now spanned twenty-six years.
Refusing to let constricted boundaries dictate their students’ expectations, Bair and Meadows wore the name, Exit Lancaster, like a badge of courage. But when USTA legend Judy Levering and her husband, Gordon, met the duo in 2017, they offered a perspective that rewrote the program's future.
Judy Levering, the first female president of the USTA and founder of the USTA Foundation, had recently returned to Lancaster and wanted to get involved with a local National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) program. A mutual connection pointed her directly to Bair and Meadows, who at that point had spent 14 years mentoring local youth with Exit Lancaster.
When they sat down, the Leverings recognized the immense value of the mentorship program while gently challenging the messaging of its name.
Ty Bair, Jennifer Meadows and Shayne Meadows
"We suggested, you know, that rather than Exit, how about Advantage?,” Judy said.
The Leverings envisioned a title that flipped the narrative from fleeing a neighborhood to gaining a lifelong strategic asset. Gordon suggested a tennis term that perfectly embodied what they wanted to hand to the students: an advantage.
"The name change better reflects our core mission to equip our students with the necessary skills to succeed beyond high school," he said. "Together, we can create an advantage for our students and the broader community.”
Advantage Lancaster is unique within the Middle States NJTL Network because of its inverse origin story. While most NJTL chapters are built around tennis programs that later integrate educational components, Advantage Lancaster was already a highly successful, fully-formed academic and mentorship nonprofit built around PA-Certified teachers long before a tennis racquet was ever introduced.
The transition to tennis brought the journey full circle for Meadows in an unexpected and moving way.
During that historic first meeting with the Leverings, Meadows found himself overwhelmed with emotion, briefly excusing himself from the table. Looking back, he had grown up playing in an NJTL program at the Allens Lane tennis courts in Mount Airy, Pa., and now decades later, he found himself sitting across from the very person who funded his childhood safe haven, he simply couldn't hold back tears.
Today, the program operates with a deep, holistic approach anchored by five guiding principles:
1. Educational opportunities
2. Community involvement
3. Appreciation of the arts
4. Wellness
5. Career exploration
During the intensive summer semester at Franklin & Marshall College, middle and high school students experience true campus immersion by eating in dining halls, navigating science labs, and practicing academic rigor to prevent summer learning loss. In the afternoons, they head to the courts at Racquet Club West (RCW) Athletic Club and McCaskey High School.
However, sustaining the organization’s growth over two decades required bridging a critical gap. Because Bair and Meadows were both middle school teachers, the program initially struggled to maintain momentum as its students moved on to high school.
Jennifer Meadows, Advantage Lancaster’s High School Director, stepped in to complete that missing piece of the puzzle.
Jennifer is a strong believer that teachers are the cornerstone of society. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics Education from Millersville University and has spent the past 20 years teaching all levels of math for the School District of Lancaster at the McCaskey High School Campus.
With the high school space now firmly secured, the organization's impact expanded greatly. And for the past five years, Advantage Lancaster has maintained a 100 percent high school graduation rate.
“What Ty and Shayne have done for that community and for those children is just beyond belief,” Judy Levering said. “They have given them a completely different outlook on what life can be.”
Judy & Gordon Levering
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Hannah Gutierrez | Alumni
Long before Hannah Gutierrez became a Genetic Counselor at Main Line Health, she was building confidence and a love of learning with Advantage Lancaster.
The program continues to carry the same mission and values that helped shape Gutierrez’s future. That lasting connection is still visible through Jenn Meadows, Gutierrez’s freshman-year geometry teacher, who first introduced her to the program.
“I don’t think I would be where I am today without this program," Gutierrez recalls. “Mrs. Meadows really instilled in me the importance of women in STEM, working as hard as you possibly can and continuing to go for your dreams, even if it seems unattainable.”
Even as an adult, Gutierrez remains connected to Advantage Lancaster. After recently moving back to the area, she told Meadows she would love to come in and speak with the kids, or help the program in any way she can.
Some of Gutierrez’s most meaningful memories came from the experiences the program created outside the classroom. She remembers trips to places like the bowling alley and the Fulton Opera House, along with dinners for alumni as they entered college and graduated. For her, those moments showed that Advantage Lancaster’s support did not end after high school.
Beyond those larger experiences, the simple moments stand out the most to her. She loved taking classes, spending time with friends, and volunteering.
“It was really fun to go out and help the community with other people that care about Lancaster,” she said.
Pablo Reyes | Alumni
For years, Advantage Lancaster has changed the lives of countless children. For Pablo Reyes, that opportunity started with one simple question.
Reyes had just finished seventh grade and was sitting on his porch eating ice cream when Shayne Meadows stopped by and asked him what he had planned for the summer. That question led Reyes to Exit Lancaster, now known as Advantage Lancaster, and opened the door to experiences that would stay with him long after he graduated from the program.
“I didn’t realize it until now, but at such a young age, my experiences with Advantage Lancaster became fundamental to who I am,” Reyes said.
Advantage Lancaster introduced Reyes to places and opportunities outside his everyday routine. He remembers trips to Philadelphia, the beach and Broadway in New York City. For a young kid from Lancaster, those experiences helped him expand his view of what was possible in life.
The program’s impact followed him into the classroom. During high school, Reyes took summer classes at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. By the time he graduated, he had already completed one year of college. With the extra time in his schedule, he began tutoring younger students in the program. He wanted to give back to the place that had invested in him.
“They gave back to me, they poured into me,” Reyes said. “I wanted to pour back to the other kids.”
Reyes now works as a project manager on data center projects in Alabama. His career has included work connected to major projects, such as How to Train Your Dragon at Universal Epic Universe and the Orlando Airport expansion.
For Reyes, the original name Exit Lancaster still carries meaning. It was never about leaving Lancaster behind. It was about taking the first step toward new possibilities, new places and new experiences.
“It’s always hard to leave your village,” Reyes said. “But taking that first step is the most important.”
Past Sharing Our Stories Spotlights:
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