Wheeler High School senior Ishaan Chaubey began what he calls the Virtual Outreach Tutoring (VOT) program at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring, and is looking to expand the program to help fellow students on a longer-term basis.
He wrote in to explain how VOT—website link here—developed, who’s been involved, and what’s next for the organization:
In March of 2020, after my school had become fully virtual, I saw that many of my peers were struggling in their academics due to the huge transition from in-person learning to a virtual learning setting. As a tutor for an after-school club before COVID-19, I also wondered how those students, who had struggled in their everyday academics, were coping with this new learning method as well.
One night, in a video call with friends, many of them complained that the mass-cancellation of so much in the community had eliminated any opportunity for their community service requirements. Hence, I decided to create an organization named Virtual Outreach Tutoring (VOT), which would provide free virtual tutoring to all elementary, middle, and high school students in a wide variety of subjects and also give high school students several opportunities for community service.
Currently, the VOT administrative team consists of myself, Jahnvi Bhagat (Senior at Wheeler High School) who is the lead administrator for Wheeler High School tutors, Rohan Mathur (Senior at Campbell High School) who is the lead administrator for Campbell High School tutors, Yasmin Sharifian (Senior at Lassiter High School) who is the lead administrator for tutors from Lassiter and other United States schools, and Jack Turbush (Senior at Wheeler High School) who helps in designing various promotional flyers for VOT. As for the number of tutors in our organization, we have approximately 120 tutors who help students in various subjects.
Today, my service initiative has greatly expanded, and my team and I have been able to help over 150 students across the United States and some from India and Germany. This initiative has also acquired significant recognition that it was recently featured on the Cobb County School District website and made an official tutoring option in the CCSD. In addition, various honor societies such as the Wheeler National Honor Society and the Campbell Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society have decided to make our virtual tutoring organization their official tutoring option.
Furthermore, with the help of several nonprofit organizations such as the United Way of Greater Atlanta, this virtual tutoring initiative has also inspired students to join as tutors from different states, such as New York, Texas, Florida, and Virginia, to help their communities. Today, along with providing free virtual tutoring, my team and I have conducted several Group AP Review sessions in the spring of 2020, aided students in SAT/ACT preparation, and produced a virtual musical performance to recognize the hard-work of healthcare workers fighting against COVID-19 for the AG Rhodes Health and Rehab Center in Marietta, Georgia.
For the production of the virtual musical performance, my team consisted of Charles Yu (Editor), Keaton Kotarba (Editor), Joseph Nguyen (Performer- Violin), Hannah Lee (Performer- Violin), and myself (Performer- Piano).
As time progresses, my team and I plan to continue this successful service initiative into college, and we also plan to appoint a new administrative team to lead and manage the tutoring service at the school level after our graduation. Finally, our collective vision for VOT is to remain persistent in helping numerous students by further expanding this initiative across the world and ensuring that each student has the necessary resources to genuinely succeed in their academic endeavor.
Ishaan says students at any level can get tutoring from VOT by going to the website, and that’s where any interested potential tutors can also sign up.
Related Content
- East Cobb UMC issues ‘For Our Teachers’ COVID pledge
- Cobb superintendent wants teachers prioritized for vaccines
- Cobb school board members ask Kemp for safety measures
- Editor’s Note: The haunting silence of the Cobb school board
- After teacher deaths, Cobb schools begged to stay remote
- Sedalia Park ES paraprofessional dies of COVID
- Cobb schools go remote week of Jan. 18
- McCleskey MS, Simpson MS to finish week fully remote
- 66 percent of Cobb students choose face-to-face for spring
- 21 active cases of COVID-19 reported at McCleskey MS
- Cobb school board elects officers for 2021
- Cobb schools return amid COVID concerns, teacher’s death
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
