Imagine you’re an elementary school student.
Your backpack is the same one you’ve had since kindergarten. Your clothes are hand-me-downs from your older sibling. On your birthday, you get a cupcake and a card at most–no presents, not since your dad lost his ‘job’. You don’t know what that means, but it must be bad if you can’t get a new pencil pouch for Christmas. Your parents keep talking about something called ‘bills’ that they can’t afford, but you don’t know what that means either. All you know is that when your friend gets a tutor to help her get her grades up, it works. And when you ask your parents for one too, they say they can’t get you one, it’s too expensive.
That’s where the Educators of OC come in.
It started as a nonprofit. Liana Bhindi (10) joined the organization and decided she “wanted to start a chapter here”. That chapter expanded into a full-blown club: Educators of OC, available to join here at YLHS.
Educators of OC aims to provide free tutoring (and supplies!) to low-income elementary-age students. They tutor for core subjects (math, history, language arts, science) at an elementary school level. Currently, they have one recurring event: the MIX by Newsong Church in Santa Ana, where residents of the area can come and take fun classes like martial arts or the aforementioned tutoring. This event happens every Wednesday from 6-8pm at Newsong Church. Additionally, they occasionally participate in environmental beautification (Educators of OC). Isha Arya (10) states that they’re “trying to get an opportunity in Corona [California] helping a women’s leadership organization”, adding to the list of opportunities this club is making for members of the community.
Not only are their goals admirable, but their motivations are too. While, yes, they do earn volunteer hours for the work they do, many of the board members are actually dedicated to the club for other reasons.
Elizabeth Horner (10) is the secretary of the club. When asked what her personal motivation was in joining the club and taking on that role, she said she “had an interest in becoming a teacher or college professor.”. To her, it made sense to join a club like Educators of OC and becoming part of the board–tutoring kids is a valuable experience for someone who wants to be a teacher one day. “It’s hard to ask for help sometimes when you need it,” she said, encouraging children to take advantage of their services even when it might seem scary to reach out and admit they needed some academic help.
Cindy Li (10) is the publicist of Educators of OC. Her main motivation was focused on giving back to the community. “I’ve always had an interest in serving my community, so joining a club that helps the underserved was very much a priority for me,” explains Li. This was a common sentiment among all of the board members, but Cindy’s passionate and sincere response showed her vibrant personality and her willingness to put herself out there in order to help.
President Liana Bhindi (10) offers a similar reason for expanding the club. She also spoke about other ways to help out in the community if tutoring isn’t for you: “A lot of churches do volunteering events so that would be a great place to start [looking for opportunities]”. One such example is a local event hosted every October at Saint Martin de Porres Church–Oktoberfest (SMPDYL).
Both Isha Arya (10) and Wilson Han (10), vice president and treasurer respectively, echo similar statements about giving back to the community and assisting the underprivileged. Isha especially said that she thought volunteering wasn’t even that large an aspect in the board members’ minds–it was the impact they did that actually counted.
Yet the most impressive thing about Educators of OC, is that all of this has been accomplished while the club is just beginning to explore its own potential. Led by these five eager, clearly dedicated board members, it seems like the sky’s the limit for where this club could go–and how many young lives it could help along the way.
