Tutoring Project Helps New Brunswick Elementary School Students
Honors College students Eshan Kaul and Nick Pellitta (above L-R) were invited to join 1,200 other innovative student leaders this past April at the ninth annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) meeting at University of California, Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hosted by President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, the purpose of the meeting was for students to make Commitments to Action in five key areas: education, environment and climate change, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation, and public health. In all, there were 13 Rutgers–New Brunswick students who were invited to CGIU. The trip was funded by the Rutgers Centers for Global Advancement and International Affairs (GAIA Centers).
The tutoring program that Eshan and Nick developed in conjunction with other HC students, which captured the interest of CGIU, is called A2E and will be implemented in partnership with New Brunswick-based Youth Empowerment Services (YES). A2E will launch in the city's Roosevelt Elementary School this fall with 100 volunteer tutors and will serve 50 first and second grade students each week from 3-5pm, providing tutoring, mentoring, and life skills activities such as staying safe, counting money, reading an analog clock, getting comfortable speaking English, and much more. Tutors will be drawn from the Rutgers–New Brunswick community and HC students will receive HC Serves credit for their time.
To-date, there is no daily after school tutoring program on this scale in the New Brunswick elementary school system. Barry Smith, founder and executive director of YES, served as an advisor in the creation of this program.
This summer, Eshan, Nick, and other HC members working on the project–Riley Link, Kyle Bright, Steven Chen, Sharon Liu, and Ansley Kunnath–are focusing on recruiting more tutors and developing lesson plans in close coordination with the school.
Eshan, who began volunteering last fall at YES, said, "While tutoring, I noticed major gaps in the children's knowledge and just couldn't ignore their needs." With Barry's guidance, Eshan began laying plans for the program.
Simultaneously, Nick had spoken with Deans Matsuda and Klein about ways to connect RU–NB students with the surrounding community, noting that "as Rutgers students, we can't ignore the fact that the city is here." He discovered through his research that education was in great need of support. Through mutual interests, Eshan and Nick began developing A2E together with their peers. For anyone looking to volunteer, please email.