Jayden, a very tall, self-possessed, and witty ninth grader, said he was only just this tall when he started working with Mim as a kindergartner. Mim Geraghty, his tutor and mentor, described the daunting stack of index cards they employed for word recognition activities at that time as the same height. Jayden laughed and explained that “those cards were what got our relationship going!” He continued, “the relationship grew, the work got hard, and we’re still going.”
These two have been through it all over the course of their ten years together. They’ve progressed through the typical skill-building of elementary school work to addressing the higher-level assignments of Jayden’s high school courses. They’ve also seen one another through life’s challenges, evolutions, and joys. Last year, Mim went to Jayden’s 8th grade graduation. “He came across the stage and the crowd went wild,” said Mim. “He is very well loved by teachers and students.”
Jayden has the advantage of coming from a family of educators, with a mom who taught Special Education and an auntie who teaches Math. Both Mim and Jayden attribute much of Jayden’s academic achievement and executive functioning skills to these powerhouse influences in his life; Mim is proud to be in their company as another resource and long-standing friend.
Like many of our student-tutor pairs, their mentorship has grown to where they feel comfortable fitting in an extra tutoring session when needed. Mim always prioritizes seeing Jayden around his birthday, they’ve gone on fun adventure outings, and they keep in touch during the summer, typically taking the annual opportunity to select a novel to read together. “We Facetime and take turns reading until Jayden gets tired or has to eat something,” Mim explained as Jayden threw his head back in embarrassment.
It’s fun to watch, one week at a time, as a tutoring mentorship grows–as did the once tiny child. “Jayden is kind of a dream student–he is very diligent and he’s extremely funny,” said Mim. “I look forward to seeing him each week.”
