Program Spotlight: When the Student Becomes the Teacher

Prep for Prep offers its students a broad range of leadership development opportunities, from coding classes to entrepreneurship competitions to art academy and more. These programs teach our students specialized skills to become leaders in their chosen fields, but there is one leadership program where the students do the teaching. Students Advocating for Young Children or SAYC is run by Prep’s Director of Leadership Development Projects Michael O’Leary, but SAYC Saturday Academy is run by Prep’s high school students.

The SAYC Leadership Team includes Michelle M. (XXXVI), Kirren J. (XXXVI), and Lukas S. (XXXVI), with around 30 tutors alternating every other Saturday. A typical Saturday involves our SAYC tutors convening with gifted fifth-grade students at P.S. 188 for that day’s lesson. SAYC tutors create all curriculum and lesson plans, covering subjects such as geometry, American immigration policy, the protest songs of Nina Simone, and anything in between. Our student tutors understand the importance of educational opportunity, and strive to cultivate a love of learning in their elementary school students through fun activities such as making a catapult out of popsicle sticks to illustrate physics in action.

One of SAYC’s recent lessons was led by Kiiren who taught the students Newton’s Laws and the foundations of classical mechanics. Tutors Michelle, Sydnee-Marie E. (XXXVII), Mikayla K. (XXXVIII), and Myka M. (XXXIX) sat with students to provide individual help and encourage active listening and note-taking. Saturday Academy not only creates enrichment activities for local children, but also provides opportunities for the tutors to learn leadership skills such as how to relay information effectively and adapt curriculum for a younger audience. For Michelle, she loves “working with children and this is one of the ways I can help and inspire others.” Michelle was once a student in SAYC Saturday Academy before getting accepted to Prep. She has come full circle by volunteering now as a tutor and team leader.

SAYC Alumni Coordinators support the efforts of the high school students. This year, Kayla Thompson (P9 XXIV), Carolyn Peters (P 9 XXII), and William Huang (XXIV) chose to give back to Prep by volunteering their time. William in particular has volunteered every Saturday for three years and has secured nearly 100% of SAYC lunches from local businesses. SAYC is currently seeking student tutors and alumni volunteers for the 2020-2021 school year. For more information, contact Michael directly at moleary@prepforprep.org.