Congratulations to graduating senior, Lena!
Lena has been a student at Learning Edge Tutoring since fourth grade and, according to her current tutor, Kevin, “She’s a great student and open to ideas.”
Lena said that in tutoring, “We do everything: although math’s Kevin’s favorite, we work on Spanish, Shakespeare, AP African American studies…” Kevin added, “We’ve done rules of the road!”
Despite working on a wide breadth of subjects and feeling challenged academically by each of her tutors, Lena said the real value of tutoring has been the mentor-student connections themselves. “We talk about real life events, about things that we can learn from past experiences,” she claimed. Lena went on to describe a research paper she had completed on maternal mortality in minorities, and how Kevin added depth to her understanding by speaking to his own experiences as a physician.
Lena will be missed in our program not only as a student, but as one of the friendly faces that greeted families and tutors; Lena has been one of our Program Assistants since her sophomore year. While the tutoring program clearly benefits from the work she does preparing and clearing up our spaces each week, Lena said she reaped the benefits, too. “It taught me a lot of leadership skills and provided my first perspective on finding work/school balance,” Lena explained, adding that it was an easy introduction to work life since she was already familiar with the environment and many members of the community.
To the students who come after her, she advised them to “Embrace the help! There’s nothing wrong with receiving help.”
Lena has been offered a full ride to attend Elmhurst University and major in Psychology with hopes of one day pursing a higher education degree in Occupational Therapy.
“Saying goodbye is very bittersweet,” Lena said. “I’m very grateful for all of the beautiful people I’ve met on this journey.”
We hope it’s not goodbye, but rather, “see you later.” We’re so proud of you, Lena, and wish you luck as you continue on your journey!