We were lucky to catch up with Sanika Nandpure, Garry Gong and Satvik Garimella recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sanika, Garry and Satvik, appreciate you joining us today. What was one of the most important lessons you learned in school? Why did that lesson stick with you?
Throughout my middle school and junior high school career, I have found that the most popular way to organize the curriculum involves a never-ending cycle of learning lessons, doing homework, and taking unit tests. Although this certainly teaches students the material for the short-term, between all the assignments and due dates, there is rarely any time left for critical thinking and curiosity. This led me to think: isn’t creating knowledgeable human beings who can think for themselves the whole point of education? The sheer lack of outlets for academic creativity and curiosity disappointed me.
However, I found a bit of hope in my math class, in which our teacher taught us to question everything. Instead of telling us to take all the mathematics theories and laws for granted, she pushed us to always doubt; to always try to figure out the reasoning behind the theories. There was always time for questions in her class, and when prompted, she would halt the lesson, take out a new piece of paper, and prove why the theory she was teaching was true. By doing so, she made us a class of open-minded, curious learners who didn’t think something was true just because “that’s how it’s always been done”.
I tried to take the same spirit to the tutoring at YoungBytes. Through our tutoring program, we want to support kids who not only want to learn the “what” but also the “why”. We actively encourage curiosity by making the tutoring session an open conversation about STEM between the tutor and the student. In contrast to classroom learning, each tutoring session revolves around the student’s question. The student comes in with a question or a topic they need help understanding, and the tutor tries their best to answer it during the class. Thus, by making our sessions centered around the student’s interests and weaknesses rather than just the curriculum, we make sure that the student not only understands the subject matter well but also sees the complexity and beauty of it.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
YoungBytes exists to fill an empty space in local private tutoring. While there are hundreds of amazing, one-on-one private tutoring services available on the market, most (if not all) of them are paid. At YoungBytes, however, in an effort to serve the underprivileged students in our society, lessons are completely free. This was an initiative that we started this year in order to encourage direct action among Plano youth. Instead of generating funds to support students, YoungBytes tutors directly work with them to ensure that they are getting the quality academic support that they deserve.
With this in mind, it goes without saying that the people who make possible this dream of direct involvement in the community are our tutors. They work closely with our students and teach them not only how to score well on tests but also how to love the process of learning. We couldn’t be prouder of them! This love of learning that they foster in our students truly makes a positive impact and allows the students to have the motivation to work for and achieve their academic goals.
Given our mission, YoungBytes strives to be open to students and tutors from all different kinds of financial and cultural backgrounds. We actively encourage creativity and openness in our organization. As we progress through this year, we hope that our community of tutors and students continues to grow!
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Our strategy to foster brand loyalty is very simple–we treat our clients with the utmost respect and kindness. This goes for both students and tutors. For students, we try to be prompt when replying to their emails and registration requests. Furthermore, since our students are serious about improving their grades, we make sure that we find them a tutor as quickly as possible so that they can get started with their YoungBytes journey straight away.
For tutors, we have the same approach; since we know that the tutors are spending their precious time to contribute to our cause, we make sure that we are taking care of them in the best way we can. When a student becomes uncooperative (for example, does not attend lessons and/or is not responding to emails or texts) we try to resolve the issue immediately. Our tutors form the basis of our organization, so we are dedicated to ensuring that their teaching experience goes as smoothly as possible.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Our biggest piece of advice for maintaining high morale in a team is appreciating members for the hard work they do! For example, since YoungBytes tutors hold amazing lessons every single week, we consider it a priority to reward them for their contribution by giving out service hours. This effectually makes tutoring a win-win situation for students and tutors. While our students benefit from one-on-one study sessions, our tutors are also able to meet the volunteer requirements for their school organizations such as NHS, Key Club, etc.
Another way to manage a team effectively is by getting them to understand why their work is inherently important. With this in mind, at YoungBytes, we constantly remind our team of tutors about why our organization exists and how, by volunteering to teach students on a weekly basis, they make a difference in their lives. By getting our tutors to understand our organization’s mission, we build a team of highly motivated, loyal, and enthusiastic tutors who know the value of their work!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://youngbytes.wixsite.com/main
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youngbytes/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youngbytesinfo/