Celebrating Students Who Lead by Educating the Community

Stanford OHS students have a deep commitment to learning and fostering an environment of collaborative education. From helping younger siblings with their homework assignments to responding to peers’ questions in Skype class chats, OHS students are always willing to lend out a hand and support others in their development of an understanding of a broad range of concepts. Over the 2020 summer, many of our students chose to expand their reach and share their knowledge with strangers, venturing on their own as tutors. 

One such example is freshman Maria Lim. She volunteered her time as an online tutor for kids from 50 to 5000 miles away from her, expanding her reach to different cities and even countries. About 2 to 3 times per week, she would arrange Skype meetings with her students, accommodating both of their schedules. The tutoring sessions were focused on helping them learn English, and as she explains, “these children come from less fortunate countries, and English isn’t their first language, so tutoring can be very expensive there.” Her decision to spend her time this way came from seeing the changes the pandemic caused in our societies. As an experienced tutor, she was able to share her skills with students and provide venues for kids to continue learning despite disruptions due to COVID. For her, “it was obvious that a lot of families haven’t been making as much money as they used to before COVID-19, and the prices for kids’ tutoring kept going up, so [she] wanted to help some families by teaching something [she’s] good at.” Through her dedication and compromise to bridging the gap between access to English education, she would make sure that lessons “were fun and did not make the students feel like English is boring and hard.” 

Maria Lim in a tutoring session

As a result, she gained insight into the learning process for children, understanding that we must acknowledge different points of view and see the value they add to education. She was able to learn as much from her students as they did from her, because “ no one is better just because they have more knowledge; every single person on the planet knows and can teach you something you don’t know.” By helping children to find English more enjoyable and engaging, she has opened up opportunities for these kids to pursue in the future.  

Other students found ways to share their knowledge through different platforms. Junior Kaela Liu helped develop a curriculum for a 2-week online math competition summer program aimed at girls in grade 6-8. She worked in conjunction with the president of the non-profit All Girls STEM Society @San Diego, Amanda T. Although their original plan was more complex, they decided to start slow and deliver a shorter test run of their program. In the first week, they sought to discuss topics in algebra like systems of equations and exponents; in the second week, they expanded to geometry and the Pythagorean theorem. Kaela’s design allowed for lecture time along with problem-solving time, following the structure of some of the math classes at OHS. The problems they worked on came from previous math competitions, like the AMC 8/10 and MATHCOUNTS, but they also designed their own problems. Kaela describes one of the best parts of the program as being able to see “how excited the girls were to solve the problems”, and she enjoyed “being able to help them work through tricky problems.” Through this opportunity, she was able to share her love for math with younger kids and empower girls to participate in STEM in a way that was enjoyable. 

Quarantine Mentor Talks session with Jada

In junior Jada Badiyan’s case, her summer tutoring took on many different forms. With the rise of COVID-19 and isolation, she understood the need for developing an online community that celebrated supporting one another, served as a ground for important conversations, and led to the formation of friendships. One of her ventures involved a weekly Mentor Talk series, “Quarantine Mentor Talks,” that connected inspiring and successful speakers such as company CEOs and others that found joy in  exploring different areas of life  with aspiring youth. These talks taught students how they can live their life through service and how they can find a career that they are proud of. 

Flyers for some of the Quarantine Mentor Talks (1/2)

Flyers for some of the Quarantine Mentor Talks (2/2)

Her impact on the community did not stop there, as she also understood the need to expand her knowledge and provide a space for others to raise questions by co-starting a Black Lives Matter Book Club. The goal of this book club was to read informative works that dealt with institutionalized racism in America (a topic relevant to the BLM protests). Her inspiration behind this was to “educate ourselves so that we can help build equality and be more aware of our actions as well as know how to be an antiracist and stand up for what is right.” She also continued her 5-year commitment to teaching virtues classes for the youth in her community. Through these classes, she has witnessed the difference in the children’s lives and community as they implement virtues and service with their actions. 

Another Quarantine Mentor Talks session with Jada

The Community Engagement Club is a resource for students such as Maria, Kaela, and Jada to find these opportunities and share the joy they have developed through service. Any students interested in starting independent ventures should contact the CE club by reaching out to Ms. Burson-Ryan (cbursonryan@stanford.edu) or Noah Giles (negiles@ohs.stanford.edu), and in this way find guidance in their pursuits.