A Worldwide Community by Benjamin

A Worldwide Community by Benjamin - August 2021 Scholarship Essay

I’d never considered myself very skilled at helping my community. I didn’t know of many ways I could improve the lives of those around me, so I wasn’t very involved in my community. But that changed this summer when I learned about schoolhouse.world, an organization created by Sal Khan (the founder of Khan Academy) that aimed to give free peer tutoring to students around the world. I decided to sign up as a volunteer tutor to see if I could help other students by explaining math concepts to them and answering their questions. I registered as a user on the website, scheduled my first tutoring session, and prepared a lesson to deliver to whomever would sign up to attend my session. I had no idea how many students would come or how much I could help them, and I was nervous and unsure how the session would go, but I was committed to doing my best.
The day of my first tutoring session arrived. I started the Zoom meeting and waited for students to join. Two students joined my session, so I introduced myself and started teaching the concept I had chosen for the session, complex numbers. I felt myself stumble, hesitate, and give imperfect explanations at times, but the students were learning and improving at solving the practice problems I gave them. It felt like the session was over in the blink of an eye, and at the end, the attendees let me know how much they appreciated me and my teaching and how much I had helped them. The feeling of helping others achieve success and understanding, and knowing how much I meant to them and had impacted their lives, was incredible. I scheduled more sessions in the future: my first session had thoroughly convinced me that peer tutoring was well worth my time.
As time went on, I continued hosting tutoring sessions. Some had more students in attendance than others, and some sessions even resulted in no learners showing up. But I kept scheduling and delivering lessons, committed to supporting as many students as I could. I continued to receive messages of gratitude and compliments about my teaching skill, which renewed me and made my time meaningful so that I never felt tired or drained after a tutoring session. Teaching never felt like a chore. I was happy to use my unique skills and talents to help others all around the world. I have always been interested in math and wanted to learn as much as I could, and joining schoolhouse.world helped me discover my talent for explaining what I’ve learned about. Of course, I was not perfect at teaching when I started, and I still have much room to improve, but I’ve noticed myself becoming a more effective tutor over time. I am proud to know that I am making a difference in the lives of students in need of academic support, while simultaneously improving my ability to help them.
When I consider how I’ve improved as a result of my participation in schoolhouse.world, I am grateful that I discovered the organization because my experiences have affected me at least as significantly as they have affected others. I’ve grown less selfish by truly empathizing with my students, and I’ve been happier as a result of my focus on helping others rather than fulfilling my own personal desires. I’ve also built a better understanding of the math concepts that I’ve taught as a result of developing presentations and explanations to teach them to others. My understanding of math is more concrete because I can think about math in a way that inspires understanding in others rather than just using my own implicit understanding and ability to use the math. I’ve also achieved a sense of community and collaboration with the other volunteer tutors that I’ve talked with, and through my access to a network of selfless, caring volunteers, I feel inspired to go and make the world a better place, not just through teaching math, but through any other actions I can take in my everyday life, knowing that as I do so, I will improve myself and the lives of others even more.