Two students created an organization to children of front-line workers

(Photo courtesy of Teach to Care)

Highschoolers are home learning from online courses. However, two teenagers wanted to make a difference and help the families of front- line workers.

Juniors Grishma Baruah and Sreenidhi Sankararaman, from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology(TJHSST), created Teach to Care.

Teach to Care is an organization established in Virginia, and its purpose is to help the children of front- line workers who are struggling to adapt to this new way of learning and provide free tutoring.

“The idea to create Teach to Care started when Sreenidhi and I started to see how drastic of an effect the Covid-19 crisis had on the families of front-line workers,” said Baruah. “ As we saw how much front-line workers were doing for us, we wanted to give back in a small way."

Through this pandemic giving back to the community became a goal for these two students.

“Teach to Care represents how we can help out the community in a small way by using our experience in tutoring. Through teaching others that need support, we can be more caring, helping the community,” stated Baruah.

As students themselves, the COVID- 19 epidemics have affected their learning style and wanted to reach out to other students going through the same problem.

“ The biggest change for us has been the shift from in-person school to online learning,” said Baruah. “ I saw some of the challenges with the new form of learning, and we realized that for students that do not have their parents with them at home, schooling could be even more difficult.”

Currently, a few students registered as mentees for Teach to care, and Baruah is reaching out to the community to spread the word.

“Through outreach in the news and social media, the community can help grow Teach to Care so that we can reach out to the families that are most in need. Along with raising awareness, Teach to Care is always looking for more volunteer mentors that are looking for a way to give back to the community during these difficult times."

Baruah and Sankararaman want to continue to Teach to Care beyond the duration of COVID-19.

“Even after the COVID-19 crisis, which will hopefully end soon, we want to continue the Teach to Care program,” stated Baruah. “Our goal is to help as many children in need, and because of that, we want to be able to reach out to students that need additional support in learning, especially if they lack certain resources at home.”

To register as a mentor and more information about Teach to Care click here