A class of 2011 alumna was selected from a pool of 2,500 recent college graduates to be a private tutor for Match Corps in Massachusetts. at Lawrence Public High School.
"Lawrence Public High School is one of the lowest performing schools in Massachusetts and Match wanted to bring their personal tutors to the students," alumna Stephanie Cortes said. "Fifty people were hired from all over the country with all different types of backgrounds to tutor math because it is the subject the kids are having the most trouble with."
Tutors are responsible for individual students and their job is to keep a motivating atmosphere as well as maintain contact between parents and the school, according to Cortes.
"I have 12 smart, funny, wonderful students," Cortes said. "Our goal is to keep them focused in school, be there for them and their parents, and get them to pass the state test (the MCAs) at the end of the year. We want school to be a place they love."
However, Cortes did not always imagine herself in a job like this.
"If someone in college had told me I would have been working with high school students I would have laughed so hard," she said. "I thought I hated kids...[but] 10 months after graduation I got a small part-time job at a day care and was shocked at how much fun I was having with the kids. I saw the ad for Match Corps Lawrence online and since I was always good at math in high school I thought I would apply just to see what happened."
Looking back Cortes credits her time at Seton Hall with preparing her for the workforce.
"SHU (and the Career Center) really prepared me for the job and especially the interview part," Cortes said. "I was a psychology major and I learned so many things that I use every day at work. I learned patience and how to be a good listener among other important concepts such as teaching techniques."
Arielle Branco can be reached at arielle.branco@student.shu.edu.
