Kristen Steinglen and Avani started working together at the Cluster Tutoring Program’s new location – Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Oak Park – on Monday nights at the start of the school year. Both Kristen (tutor) and Avani (student) were new to the Cluster Tutoring Program.
Kristen found out about the Cluster Tutoring Program from an article in the newspaper. She is an Oak Park resident and chief of staff for an infrastructure group (i.e. computers, helping organize people and projects). As she works downtown on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she says Cluster works for her this year with the new session on Mondays at Fair Oaks.
Kristen also has more time to contribute now since her children are older. “I thought it would be a good time to try and see if I could win in games against Avani, but she beats me all the time,” Kristen adds.
Avani is a first-grade student from Chicago, Illinois. She enjoys playing games and basketball. Avani says her favorite subject in school is math. At Cluster, Kristen and Avani typically read together, as well as practice sight words and solve math problems.
For both, their favorite part about the evening is playing games at the end. They enjoy piecing together puzzles and number concept games, such as 10 on the Spot and Uno. “I thought I was good at Uno, but turns out not when I play Avani,” says Kristen. “We have a good healthy competition.”