Mitchell Meyer is a Long Island high school junior. He recognized a problem last year when the pandemic first started.
Students involved in the National Honor Society are required to fulfill community service hours in order to be part of the program. Most accrued these hours by working in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, food pantries, etc. Because of closures, these outlets were not hosting students which made it very difficult to fulfill the requirements.
As a result, Mitchell created and developed a free, interactive website called Blast Off Tutoring that provides a platform for student tutors and tutees to connect. Now more than ever, because of remote instruction, students find it challenging to get the support they need, especially in math and science. Any student with expertise in a subject can volunteer to be a tutor. Student tutors receive community service hours for all of their completed sessions.
Mitchell’s goals are simple:
Helping Students Access Quality Instruction
He wants to help as many students as he can by offering free tutoring in all areas.
Peers Tutoring Peers
Mitchell feels strongly that tutoring is done peer-to-peer. Kids in the same age range relate to each other in different ways than they do to adults. Friendships are developed that go way beyond tutoring.
Understanding Diversity
Offering assistance to students in different areas teaches life lessons such as understanding diversity, inclusiveness, patience, communication skills, and gaining a perspective of differences in need. While this is taught in school, learning by doing is far more effective.
Community Service Hours
Giving back to their school and community in a safe, rewarding way for students to fulfill their community service requirements. Again - it’s free and extremely helpful to many, many students!
