The Rochester Center for Community Leadership is looking to hire academic tutors for the Learning and Exploring at Play (LEAP) program. LEAP engages undergraduates in helping kindergarten through fourth-grade students to develop the language, literacy, math, and social skills necessary to succeed in school. Hear from one of our graduating tutors about this wonderful program. For more information about LEAP and the application to be a tutor, please visit the website.
Name: Naomi Rutagarama
Hometown: Syracuse, NY
Class Year: 2018
Major: Political Science and Digital Media
What is a typical day/week like as a tutor?: There is no such thing as a typical day as a tutor. You can plan every hour, minute, or second of session down at you team planning session, but the session will never go exactly as planned because you may realize that the technology isn’t working at the last minute or you may only have three of your children show up that day. the There are those rare days where session goes as planned and we get to complete everything we planned to do, however, most sessions require us to be flexible and able to make spur of the moment changes to our lessons and activities planned. These sessions typically end up being the most successful and the most fun because the children are able to give some input on what they would prefer to do.
What do you love the most about LEAP?: My favorite thing about LEAP is being able to form close bonds with my partner children and seeing them progress as students throughout the year.
What would you say to anyone looking to apply?: If you are thinking about applying to LEAP I would highly encourage you to do it because it is a great experience. Although I work to help children grow and learn, I have also learned from my children and grew as a person through tutoring. LEAP is also a great way to get involved in the local Rochester community and learn about the socio-political culture within Rochester that we often are not aware of as college students enclosed on our campus.