Club Turns Tutoring Pay to Donations

Campolindo’s Developing Young Minds club donated over $300 to the Oakland Public Education Fund by tutoring kids in the last semester of 2020. Members of the club can tutor elementary students on a variety of subjects for thirty minutes for a fee of five dollars, which are then donated.

President freshman Aditya Kapur created the club. “I truly enjoy teaching and wanted to create a platform that allowed me and others who felt the same to do just that,” said Kapur.

The Oakland Public Education Fund helps give children in impoverished, minority communities a better education. Kapur said, “After I came up with the idea [for the club,]…I realized that others do not receive sufficient education, and therefore I decided that all proceeds made from the club should go towards fostering learning for those that don’t attain an equitable education.”

Junior Rohan Phadnis joined the club wanting to positively impact the community, “I really, really appreciate the Developing Young Mind[s’] mission to not keep tutoring fees as profits, but rather to fund education for underrepresented students.”

Due to the pandemic, the tutoring has been over Zoom. “Tutoring has been fine over zoom, there are some challenges like [the students] losing focus, but after you overcome them it is a good experience” said vice president freshman Vahram Tchakmakjian.

Phadnis enjoys tutoring via Zoom and said, “I teach STEM subjects such as science and computer science. These subjects would anyway require online platforms. I also think that because of our online platforms, we can expand our reach to students who would otherwise be unavailable for in-person tutoring.”

The club has already gained attention from Lamorinda Weekly. “We gained maybe 1 to 2 families from Lamorinda Weekly which is great for a new club” said Tchakmakjian.

The club’s goal for the first semester of 2021 is to raise $500 and to gain more tutors.