And we're off to a great start!

Last Wednesday and Thursday kicked off tutoring for the academic year. It was so great seeing all the new and returning volunteers and all the new and returning kids finally come together and accomplish what our organization is all about. I knew it would be a good turnout from the positive attendance we had at the orientations the previous week.

Wednesday, when we have our high schoolers went extremely smoothly - we actually had a surplus of volunteers over our students, so unfortunately we actually had to ask a couple of volunteers to be substitutes. All the new student-volunteer matches seemed to work very well and everyone even brought their homework.

Thursday, on the other had was a little rockier. First of all, we knew that we were going to be short about a dozen volunteers since we had so many new students (which is great!) sign up at our orientations. However, we were only slightly prepared for the number of new students who brought friends, cousins, and siblings along with them. By the time we were able to match up all of our students who had homework (if students didn't bring homework, then they didn't get a tutor), we still had a surplus of about 20 students. Some of our veteran volunteers were very kind in helping 2 or 3 students who had homework, but there were still well-behaved students, who brought homework, who still didn't have a tutor to help them, which is very unfortunate. What was also unfortunate was that many of the kids who just showed up and didn't bring homework were just playing on the computers or horsing around. We had to ask them to leave, but still, in the end, we need more volunteers. If you, or anyone you know is willing to volunteer to tutor middle school (and a couple of high school students), please let me know!

Also, Cabrini Connections, along with Chicago Lights at 4th Presbyterian Church and Cabrini Green Tutoring, is hosting a Tutor Training Conference this Saturday, September 29th. Registration begins at 8am and the conference goes until 2:30pm, although participants can go for a half-day.

Finally, we are looking for workshop presenters and keynote speakers at out November Tutor/Mentor Conference, which is Thursday and Friday, November 15th and 16th at Olympia Fields Country Club. If you are interested in doing a workshop or in being a keynote speaker, please fill out this form and send it to Dan Bassill.