New Canaan High School juniors Sophia Cantu and Priti Mathur have taken the helm at Study Buddies, a tutoring service launched two years ago by NCHS students (here on Instagram). Study Buddies generally serves New Canaan kindergarten through sixth-graders (book an appointment here).
All proceeds from Study Buddies benefit nonprofit organizations. Past beneficiaries include ABC New Canaan, Filling In The Blanks, Children Incorporated, The Salvation Army and Open Doors.
We sat down with Cantu and Mathur at New Canaan Library on Tuesday afternoon.
Here’s a transcription of our interview.
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New Canaanite: What was your interest in taking on Study Buddies and running it?
Priti Mathur: We met Morgan Pitts, who was a previous founder of this club, through choir. We became good friends with Morgan, and she informed us that she has an organization called ‘Study Buddies,’ and we were immediately hooked. We immediately thought this was a great cause, and it aligned with a lot of our interests—business, English and journalism. So we wanted to help these kids and make a difference in our community by having an after-school program and taking this over.
Sophia Cantu: I’ll just say that as we grew closer with Morgan, we realized that all four of the people who were currently running it were seniors. And so toward the end of the year, we had a couple of meetings with all four of the people who were running it. And so Priti was able to shadow, and they met with us during their senior year while they were still at New Canaan High School to talk about taking over it and to make sure that we were fully committed, because we really care about this, and they wanted to make sure their program was in good hands.
So what changes, if any, are you planning for Study Buddies?
Cantu: For Study Buddies, originally last year they only had four tutors, but this year Priti and I are leading a bunch of tutors. So we’ve expanded to 18 to 20 tutors. And they’re not only in one grade, they range from sophomore to senior, and so they all have different strengths, and they’ve been in different classes, and each has worked a lot with kids, so we have more people and a bigger team.
So are you looking to expand the number of kids who are served by Study Buddies by increasing the staff?
Priti: Yes.
What is the age range of a StudyBuddy client?
K through sixth grade.
When you say that you have these 18 tutors lined up, what type of vetting have they undergone from you? What type of training do they have? How do you know they’re good candidates as tutors?
Priti: We specifically chose these tutors that would be good candidates for this organization. They’re our friends through choir, through theater. We’re both involved in theater. We’ve gone through extensive research to make sure these would be reliable tutors and would serve our organization. So we actually made all of them write a tutor bio, and we made them sign a contract to make sure everything goes well.
How did you develop the contract?
Cantu: We created contracts. I talked to my parents about what a contract entails, and I also researched when you’re starting a tutoring organization, what a tutor needs to be. And also from my own opinion, what I want these tutors to be because we wanted to emphasize to them this is a really serious program and we want them to treat all the students with respect, including if they’re at a slower pace. So our contract just really implies being kind, being patient, making sure to be professional always, and also creating good communication between the parents and the kid.
Is Study Buddies still set up as a fundraiser for charities?
Yes. All of our profits are 100% donated to charities across Connecticut.
And the tutors sign on for that, too?
Yes, they’re aware.
What charities do you have in mind, if any? Are you donating to the same ones that have been beneficiaries so far?
Mathur: We’re keeping a lot the same from the previous group. We just expanded the amount of tutors and hopefully in the future, the amount of funds.
Cantu: We’re hoping to maybe have some more change—maybe second semester—because we’ve just started running it. So we think maybe second semester or into our senior year we’re going to try and implement more changes. We just want to make sure to keep it the same so it’s still successful.
What would you tell someone about Study Buddies who’s not familiar with it—a parent, for example, who’s reading about it for the first time in this article?
Mathur: That we offer in-person one-on-one tutoring with the kid, and also we’re close in age and undergoing the whole New Canaan school system. So we would be the best fit compared to a a tutor who didn’t experience the New Canaan school system. And also we have experience with kids. We tutor kids, we have experience with babysitting, and we’re undergoing rigorous courses in the New Canaan High School curriculum. So for someone who doesn’t really know Study Buddies, our goal is to make your child have a more successful academic journey in the future and help with homework and teachers.
Cantu: I would just say that most of our sessions, if not all, are at the [New Canaan] library, and they can be up to an hour. They’ll be with one tutor, and they’ll try and meet with that tutor regularly once a week or whenever they have homework. However, if a tutor is not able to make it, we’re not going to get rid of the appointment because we now have such a big team of tutors that we don’t have to reschedule, and another tutor will take in that position.