Youth Sync
‘We felt a need to do something’ Early College at Guilford students tutor younger students amid COVID-19 pandemic by CHRIS BURRITT GREENSBORO – A group of high school students attending the Early College at Guilford, which includes some students from northwestern Guilford County, were looking for a way to serve the community at the outset of the COVID-19 outbreak last March. They started the Learning Helpline, a free online tutoring service for middle school students in Guilford and adjoining counties. So far, the effort has helped about 50 students at Northwest Guilford Middle and other middle schools on topics including math, science, social studies and English as a second language. “We felt a need to do something during this pandemic,” said Janice Wong, co-founder and co-president of the Learning Helpline. Since she and Sanvi Korsapathy started the program last March, about 25 of their Early College at Guilford classmates have been tutoring younger students. While doing so, they’re gaining service hours and providing younger students with an academic boost. “We all recognize how foundational those early classes were in getting to where we are now,” said Wong, a senior at Early College at Guilford, a magnet school that’s ranked as North Carolina’s top high school by U.S. News & World Report. She is districted for Northwest Guilford High School.
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High school students attending Early College at Guilford started a free online tutoring program for middle school students last spring called Learning Helpline. So far, they’ve helped over 50 students engaged in distance learning and hope to expand their reach even further and to continue their program after students return to classrooms for in-person instruction.
For some students, learning remotely is difficult, creating urgency to provide them help, said Paige Abbott, an Early College at Guilford senior who is also districted for Northwest Guilford High School. “Children in our community are continuing to face obstacles with online classes and we want to get the word out to these students who still need help during these tough times,” Abbott said in a recent email.
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The program plans to keep operating even when students return to classrooms, according to Korsapathy, who is districted for Southwest Guilford High School. “We will have to adapt to the schools’ schedules, but we want to continue tutoring,” she said. She added the program is expanding its reach to students in adjoining counties. Tutors and students connect remotely, using the Zoom application. Some students are looking for onetime help while others need assistance preparing for end-of-grade testing and other longer-term tutoring. “We are here to help them with whatever needs they have,” Wong said.
to learn more Visit https://learninghelpline.wixsite. com/official for information about the Learning Helpline tutoring program.
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JAN. 7 - 20, 2021
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