When Upper School mathematics teacher and Math Club advisor Mr. Gabriel Reyes asked sophomore Matt Capaldi to head up The Gregory School Math Club this year, Matt realized that he was more interested in spreading and encouraging math understanding than in competing against people who already love and excel at math. He and Layla Lizon, also class of 2027, contacted three TGS middle school and ninth grade math teachers and offered to volunteer some of their Academic Enrichment time to tutor other students. The two were quickly joined by fellow sophomores Nik Larson and Arav Tuli.
“We’re really trying to branch out into our community. We have TGS where we want it to be–all teachers who teach sixth to ninth grade math know about us and utilize the club–so we’re trying to go beyond that.” - Matt Capaldi '27
Soon, teachers were reaching out to the four tutors about students who could use some extra math help. The club’s tutor numbers doubled again, adding Victor Badyaev ‘27, Melayna Matheson ‘26, Jules Morris-Scott ‘28, and Joshua Parker ’26. Matt began pairing the students with a tutor he thought would be a good match, allowing the club to serve more students and allowing most students to be paired with the same tutor for every session. This way, Matt explained, “You develop a relationship with the kid you are tutoring and also with the teacher about the student. You can talk about what you worked on in the session and what they need to focus on.”
In addition to individual match-ups, one student, usually Joshua Parker ‘26, is always in Mr. Thompson’s Academic Enrichment as a second person to go to for help. “It’s pretty common that the same students will come back to that AE and have that consistency with Josh.” Matt said. All eight tutors are now tutoring TGS students at least twice a week during Academic Enrichment, and the club has recorded over 100 hours of volunteer tutoring time, which they keep in a meticulous and detailed log. Tutors earn community service hours for their work.
You might think that with so many hours, the Math Club would be ready to take a rest from tutoring, but it’s quite the opposite. “These students realized they wanted to take the program beyond TGS and essentially just cold-called schools and told them, ‘We have this club and we want to tutor and are you interested?” TGS Math club advisor and teacher Mr. Reyes said. “I’d never have done something like this in high school, let alone as a sophomore. It’s just so impressive.”
“We’re really trying to branch out into our community,” Matt said. “We have TGS where we want it to be–all teachers who teach sixth to ninth grade math know about us and utilize the club–so we’re trying to go beyond that.” The club has had up to 17 tutors volunteering at other schools. Currently, members go to the International School of Tucson every Friday after school. “We bring 10 to 12 tutors and they bring kids who are struggling or just want to get their homework done on Fridays,” Matt said. Matt is also in conversation with Tucson Hebrew Academy about tutoring with their students.
The tutoring program is proving to be a rewarding experience for everyone involved. “I like watching the growth as a tutor,” Matt said. “I was working with a student who was really struggling and now watching his growth in math is really special.”
