Teach Something Grant Winners

Tutor.com and DoSomething.org partnered to offer 10 $500 grants to help fund and grow ideas and projects that are promoting education and community action. Read all about our amazing winners below.

Dwight Daniel Vires, 18

Camp Success
Dwight saw the positive impact that Camp Success had on underserved students and he intends to use the grant to double the number of campers and staff, and to transform Camp Success into an overnight camp. Camp Success is a summer camp geared toward improving the reading and writing skills of students completing the third through fifth grades. Camp is free, available for underprivileged students that are generally one grade level behind their peers, and often have backgrounds of physical or emotional abuse. Certified teachers work one-on-one with students to address their academic problems in phonics, fluency, comprehension, reading strategies, creative writing, and pleasure reading. In the afternoons, the students have several options for recreational activities, such as swimming, hiking, and arts and crafts. In addition to the academic rewards achieved at Camp Success, students also build positive relationships with their peers and camp leaders and gain confidence and self-respect.

DiVeisha Holmes, 17

The College Crew
DiVeisha perceived a need for The College Crew in her Georgia high school, where gang-related violence prevents students from thinking about their futures. The College Crew is a group of juniors and seniors that strive to help their peers succeed in high school and beyond. Whether it’s a discussion on positive teacher-student interactions, a seminar on dressing for a job interview, or an info session on a college or university, the College Crew aims to encourage and support students through peer education, demonstrating that teachers aren’t the only ones that care about their futures. In addition to inviting speakers from local organizations, the College Crew encourages the students to interact through games and activities to create a community based on common interests and goals. DiVeisha hopes to expand the Crew’s scope to include visits to local elementary schools and fundraising for charity.

Kathryn Wilcox, 19

The Cambridge After School Program (CASP)
The The Cambridge After School Program (CASP) is a Harvard undergraduate student-run initiative that provides at-risk Cambridge youth in grades K through 8 with homework help, as well as providing extracurricular enrichment, personal mentoring and a safe environment for young people to learn and play. CASP operates during the school year from 3PM-6PM, Monday to Friday, and aims to provide students with a basic foundation for success in the classroom. Teachers build lesson plans to meet individual children’s specific needs and chart their progress throughout the year. Volunteers have also begun to offer workshops in subjects about which they are passionate, such as origami, cooking, and language learning. With this grant, Kathryn Wilcox and other CASP organizers will be able to include more students in the program, add another room for lessons and activities, and expand the academic curriculum to include science and math programs similar to their successful literacy program.

Jason Yogesh Shah, 19

INeedAPencil.com: Free SAT and College Prep Online
Jason Yogesh Shah recognized that lasting social change relied on an educated population, so he founded INeedAPencil.com, a free SAT prep course available online to young people of low-income families. INeedAPencil.com helps to eliminate the significant disadvantage that low-income students already confront in exam preparation and the college admissions process. The free SAT prep program empowers these students and makes them better candidates for college admissions and scholarships. By helping to raise a student’s scores by around 200 points, INeedAPencil.com provides a first step toward earning a bachelors degree and contributing positively to society. With the grant, Jason hopes to get the word out about the website to more community centers and after-school programs, and distribute program materials to local high schools that are setting up test prep programs.

Ruth E. Simmons, 23

Students Discover Academic Research (SDAR)
Buffalo, New York is the second poorest city in the nation, one of the most residentially segregated cities and has some of the highest dropout rates nationwide. Ruth founded Students Discover Academic Research (SDAR) to encourage more urban high school students to pursue higher education by tying their personal interests to college majors. If a young man is interested in basketball, Ruth’s program is designed to help him see that he could pursue sports management. Ruth’s program aims to teach students how to research college and business opportunities, and reveal the exciting possibilities for people of all backgrounds. She hopes to help urban high school students figure out the high school courses they need to take in order to prepare for university and their careers beyond.

Michael Tubbs, 18

The Phoenix Project
When Michael’s guidance counselors advised that he should not apply to competitive colleges, he knew there was not enough support in the college admissions process for low-income students. Now a student at Stanford University, Michael has created the Phoenix Project to encourage underserved students to pursue higher education, with the help of seminars such as Writing a Winning Personal Statement, All About the Benjamin's Scholarship Guide/ Financial Aid Policies, and Presenting Yourself Effectively, and a yearlong mentorship with participants. The Phoenix Project aims to provide these students the tools necessary to succeed in college admissions in order to make college education equitable across racial and socio-economic lines.

Patricia Bradby, 22

Threads that Teach
Young people who participate in the arts are more likely to excel in other areas, both in and outside of the classroom. Threads that Teach is a non-profit organization that aims to engage students with a hands-on, comprehensive arts curriculum. Student volunteers and part-time staff members enter existing arts classes in New York City public schools using art lessons to teach entrepreneurial, marketing, and money management skills. Their efforts primarily target middle school students and lessons are customized to fit the specific needs of each participating school with lesson plans integrated into the school’s pre-existing arts education curriculum. Depending upon circumstances, the program uses a series of ten to thirty individual lessons ranging from 45 to 90 minutes in length, during which our volunteers and part-time staff work with students to design apparel that illustrates a positive theme, such as community.

Deara Okonkwo, 18

DeDe Dance Studio
DeDe Dance Studio is a non-profit organization founded in 2004 by USC Alum, Deara Okonkwo. Its mission is to provide financial and educational services for at-risk youth through multicultural performing arts, tutoring programs, and brother and sisterhood clubs. These programs offer outlets for youth to express themselves and gain confidence in a supportive environment. Some of the programs they offer have partnered with inner-city schools, such as Performing Arts Saturday Program and After School Dance and Educational Enrichment Workshops. Currently, the non-profit serves approximately 260 youth from the South Los Angeles community.

Alexis Fabrizio, 21

Bella Luce Learning
Alexis believes that everyone, no matter their circumstances or the obstacles in their lives, deserves equal access to quality education. She created Bella Luce Learning, a not-for-profit educational initiative for women serving the women of Gainesville, Florida. The mission of Bella Luce Learning is to serve and empower women by providing consistent and comprehensive education programming to young women and mothers. The ultimate goal of Bella Luce Learning is for all young women and mothers to be able to receive a high school, associates, or bachelor’s degree. Bella Luce members provide free one-on-one tutoring for any woman in the community. With this grant, Alexis will be able to expand the program, and purchase GED preparatory books, calculators, and other educational media.

Aaron T. Baier, 25

The Youth Transition & Mentoring Initiative
The Youth Transition & Mentoring Initiative helps disabled youth to become more independent, self-determined, and confident in themselves and their abilities. It features the use of peer mentors such as individuals from the community who have overcome their own personal disability-related barriers to achieve success. Youth will also become involved in a Youth Power! Advocacy and Engagement Group designed to put them in the driver’s seat for their future. Disabled youth will work to resolve issues with transition and take action on planning and initiating their transition to the community. Aaron’s involvement in this organization has helped build the programmatic capacity to facilitate an independent living-based, youth transition program while partnering with Cortland High School in its Model Transition Program, creating over 30 workshops for students and special kickoff events to motivate teens into achieving their goals.