Two high school students from Tesoro High School in the Capistrano Unified School District have come together to offer online tutoring for students who are struggling with distance learning.
Suki Chandok and Sonia Sanghani were featured Thursday evening in the CBS2 news segment “People Making a Difference,” where they shared their own struggles with distance learning and the reason why they feel so passionate about helping students in their community.
“We wanted to use our free time over the summer to help kids improve their understanding of school subjects through online tutoring,” said Sanghani.
The students charge a nominal fee of five dollars an hour for their tutoring sessions and use Google meets, Google classrooms, Google docs and various other free online tools to tutor their students. They donated 100 percent of their summer profits to charities supporting those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The teens are ready to take their initiative to the next level and hope to continue to support COVID-19 charities on a more global level. For more information on the tutoring program, visit their website.
Here are some of the other stories we’ve been following this week:
- Based on the latest figures recorded on the OC Health Care Agency’s COVID-19 dashboard, Wednesday, Aug. 19 marked the first day that Orange County successfully reported data below all of the state’s monitoring thresholds. The county could make its way off of the state’s watch list by Saturday, Aug. 22.
- OC Health officials reported this week that more than two dozen schools received approval of their waiver applications to bring back elementary-age students to their campuses.
- Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares was featured on the Schools on the Frontlines podcast, where he talked about decision-making and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Governor Gavin Newsom this week signed a bill requiring California State University students who enter as freshmen in 2021-22 to take an ethnic studies course focused on one of four ethnic groups in order to graduate.
- Orange County public schools will receive over $356 million from the state to equip students and staff for online learning during the coronavirus pandemic at the start of the school year.
- Kids sitting together at lunch tables will remain a thing of the past, for now, as school districts across the country implement new measures for school lunch programs.
- The Los Angeles Unified School District recently launched a new program that will provide regular COVID-19 testing and contact tracing to school staff, students and their families.
- OCDE’s month-long, fourth annual Interpreters and Translators Conference kicks off virtually next Wednesday, Aug. 26.
- School nurses are in short supply, with less than 40 percent of schools in the nation employing one full time before the pandemic, the New York Times reported.
- This year, school districts won’t be expected to produce the traditional Local Control Accountability Plan – or LCAP. Instead, they must show how they’re addressing learning gaps with the new Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan.
- Staff, students and families gathered during a special car parade this week to celebrate the completion of Tustin Unified School District’s new Legacy Magnet Academy.
This is the part where we encourage you to keep up with local education news stories by bookmarking the OCDE Newsroom, subscribing for emailed updates and following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.