By Cosmo Thompson, Staff Reporter
Quickly following the shift to virtual learning in May of 2020, Dream2Learn, a non-profit tutoring organization, was created to help students navigate their classes while using an online platform as well as to bring peer-to-peer tutoring onto an online platform. The Dream2Learn program itself is aimed at helping students in middle and high school excel in their classes during virtual learning as well as offering accessible personalized at-home tutoring. Currently the program has held 140 hours in tutoring sessions with 20 active tutors.
Junior Yiyang Yu, founder of Dream2Learn, discussed his reasoning for starting the program.
“I realized that many of my friends struggle with virtual learning and I realized that there are other people that need assistance,” Yu said.
Although Dream2Learn was created by Conestoga students and utilizes many Conestoga students as tutors, many tutors are also from other schools and countries. These tutors from both Conestoga and other places are helping students in four subjects: English, Social Studies, Math, and Science. Of the students receiving this academic support, only one is from the Tredyffrin/Easttown district. The others are from different states or countries. Yu credits this diversity to his Google Ad campaign for the program. For students looking to apply to volunteer with the program, the application process consists of an essay in which you explain why you want to be a tutor, and a short 15 minute interview called a consultation. In the consultation, Yu ensures you are eligible to tutor. Yu has set up his own website: Dream2Learn.org. It has a sign up page for tutoring sessions.
Dream2Learn may be a relatively small organization now, but Roy Wu, a tutor for the program, says that the organization has big goals for expanding.
“We are hoping to spread our mission and our goals to a bigger community specifically (in) the United States. We hope that we can gather more students over time and help those students in need succeed in a virtual learning environment,” Wu said.
On the tutoring end of the program, Andy Liang, another tutor for Dream2Learn, wants to be a common name for volunteering opportunities.
“(I hope) that we can become a sizable local organization for volunteering… and one day be a bigger part in the school and the district so students will come in here (to volunteer),” Liang said.
