Students of all ages will need help with their schoolwork. Who they choose to assist them is what varies, their either parents, paid tutors, teachers or even students. Student tutors are indispensable to helping their classmates and underclassmen as well. One such person who focuses on this work is Amy Yu (10), head of the Gem X Tutoring Club.“Last year we began to do math for girls on our own, like wanting to build a community of encourag[ing] girls to join math in STEM, but this year, we expanded to tutoring the White Station Middle School students to help them develop a passion for math,” Yu said.

When the club started last school year, they tutored high school students on Thursdays. Since the addition of middle school tutoring, they now meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

“It feels really good,” Yu said. “It’s nice to watch them learn. And develop as far as students, and the more knowledge they learn the more passionate and confident they feel themselves in like math andScience, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) .”

Besides tutoring through programs, some students create their own paid tutoring services. Amy Zhang (11) is a paid tutor in her personal time. She tutors two students once a week for $15 per hour. Since she is a student herself, she tries to hide any mistakes she might make while tutoring. 

“[T]he way I approach tutoring is because I’m not a professional,” Zhang said. “I teach them the subjects and I prep beforehand, but if there’s something I don’t know, I don’t try to hide it. I’ll search it up while I’m tutoring them or, like we’ll learn through it together.”