Alums launch tutoring effort in Boston

Starting this school year, the Media and Technology Charter School (MATCH) in Boston is following a rigorous plan to give its high school students the best chance for college success: 180 students, 45 tutors, two hours of one-on-one tutoring each day for every student for the entire school year.

Though the MATCH school was founded as a non-selective charter school five years ago, Alan Safran '81 initiated the MATCHCorps tutoring program just this year to provide college-preparatory tutoring.

The first graduating class of the MATCH school, which graduated last June, sent 100 percent of its students to four-year colleges.

Safran estimated that 90 percent of these children come from low-income, non-college-educated families.

However, Safran felt that the real test of a school is how many of its students graduate from college. The average figure for Boston's low-income students is five percent, Safran said.

He thought something more should be done to prepare students for the college experience.

The idea for the program came out of Safran's observation that "where most urban kids live and most college kids live happen to be very similar . . . having a high school in a city, you can take advantage of [the presence of] college undergrads."

Aside from Safran, who is the MATCH school's executive director, more than 40 other Princeton alumni are involved in the school, including chairman of the board Stig Leschly '92.

Safran explained the predominantly Princetonian leadership of the MATCH school as a coincidence, though he has encouraged such involvement.

"There are a lot of Princetonians in Boston," he said. "I love the idea of tapping a Princeton pipeline to help these kids."

Safran turned the third floor of the MATCH school into a living space for the tutors, who receive housing and a stipend of $7,200 in exchange for their involvement.

Two Princeton alums, Frances Kim '01 and Laura Schwedes '03, are currently tutors in the one-year program.

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"It's a good transition if you're used to a college environment: you're living with people, you don't have to worry about rent," said Tricia Mariano, one of the program's tutors.

Last year, the program received 400 applications for 45 positions.

Safran said he is committed to having two Princeton alumni as tutors each year. "Students at Princeton have the qualities we want in tutors," he said.

This year's Princetonian tutors, Schwedes and Kim, both said the experience has cemented their desires to go into teaching.

Before the program, Schwedes wasn't so sure. She had spent a few years working in Chicago through Project 55, but knew she wanted to return to the East Coast, and took the opportunity to teach at the MATCH school.

"You get to work with the kids so intensively," said Schwedes, who, like most tutors, works with four students over the course of eight hours. "It's really rewarding to see their progress."

After completing the program, Schwedes plans to apply to teach at charter schools on the East Coast.

Kim taught in Capetown. South Africa through Princeton in Africa, but found the MATCHCorps experience very different.

"You have to be able to think on your feet and be a little more creative . . . try new methods that you can't do in a classroom," she said.

Because of the close working relationship with the school's students, Kim said, "you almost get the feeling you're a parent."

Kim is also interested in teaching positions next year, but remarked that "a lot of the tutors are going on to law school, med school or public policy school."