Tutors

Jasmine

21 years old

“Success starts early. Seeing how you can improve education through literacy is so rewarding.”

After working as a Read Alliance tutor for five years, Jasmine officially decided to pursue education as her career path. In June 2011, Jasmine will graduate from St. Joseph’s College with a double major in General Education & Special Education and Speech Language Pathology.

During her time with Read Alliance, Jasmine served as a Lead Tutor at Beginning with Children Charter School in Brooklyn, where she is currently student teaching in a 2nd grade class. Her interaction with Read Alliance students piqued her interest in learning why certain children have more difficulty learning to read than others. She uses techniques she learned as a Read Alliance tutor in her current role as student teacher.

Currently, Jasmine works part-time at Read Alliance as an Outreach Assistant in the Teen Recruitment department. She has found that holding various Read Alliance positions has had a huge influence on her professional development.

Kimberly

Lead Tutor, 16 years old

“I didn’t expect to be with Read Alliance for as long as I have been. I realized that I can take on even more challenges in life.”

Kimberly was one of the youngest tutors to be promoted into the supervisory position of Lead Tutor nearly four pro- grams ago. Currently a junior at Mott Haven Village Prep, Kimberly is going into her third school year program as a Lead Tutor. In addition to being a Lead Tutor, Kimberly participated in the Build Your Future program in 2008 and was a tutor ambassador at our annual fundraising event in both 2009 and 2010.

Kimberly plans to pursue a career in Child Psychology and is taking Psychology 101 at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. She says that Read Alliance has influenced her to take on more challenges and become more ambitious.

Leslie

20 years old

“Read Alliance has benefitted each and every one of us—including tutors—we are all helping in the progress of improving the reading skills of young children.”

Leslie began working as a Read Alliance tutor in 2007 and says that she enjoys watching students progress in their reading and develop their speech. Since becoming a tutor, Leslie earned a promotion to Lead Tutor at three different Read Alliance programs.

The most impactful moment for Leslie was when she received a handmade card with all the students’ signatures at graduation from the students of PS16R, “I still have their card posted on my wall at home,” she said.

Renell

14 years old

“I am proud of being a role model. Some don’t know how to be one and some don’t even want to.”

Renell is a sophomore at Manhattan Center for Science & Math and has a passion for Science. He hopes to pursue this passion at Stanford University and has begun his aspiration by taking Biochemistry and Living Environment courses.

For the past two years, Renell has worked as a Read Alliance tutor at PS 5X and PS 179X located in the South Bronx. He was uncertain what to expect as a tutor, but quickly learned that patience is an important trait to have when teaching a young child how to read.