The lived experience Bob Martin brings to tutoring is somewhat unique in the Learning Edge community. Many of our tutors have an education or humanities background, but Bob has worked most of his career in textiles, a family business. “When I first started tutoring, I felt bad for the students assigned to me because I didn’t think I was good at being a tutor,” Bob claimed, “but I was assured that having the consistency and showing that I care builds a connection and helps with student success.”
And, boy, did he take that to heart! Bob’s consistency has lasted 23 years. Bob has been a volunteer with Learning Edge Tutoring longer than any of our current students have been alive. He’s been with us through four presidents. His oldest child was 11 when he started and now his youngest is 31! In the time Bob’s been with us, you could have traveled to Pluto and back.
For the last eight years, Bob has tutored Blake, a rising junior. They explained that after homework is completed, they can always find interesting things to chat about. As I approached them for this interview, the two were engaged in a discussion about land formations in Iceland. Bob praised Blake’s kind personality and talked about the joy of watching him grow over the years. He, likewise, talked about pride in watching Learning Edge grow over the years.
Bob’s tenure makes him something of a Learning Edge living time capsule. He has seen tutoring grow from only about 30 student-tutor duos to our now 112-student roster. He has tutored out of three different locations and seen six of his own students’ achievement journeys, with Blake as the most recent. Bob’s involvement in the program led to his wife, his kids, and his mother-in-law each having their own volunteering stints with us.
All this to say, and Bob is still going strong, preparing to support Blake as he takes on the second half of high school. We can’t wait to see how Bob and Blake continue to achieve!