The Fit Brain Fun afternoon tutoring program will provide children with the opportunity to achieve their full educational potential by providing them with the skills, social support, and environmental reinforcement they need to adopt life-long learning and health habits. Fit Brain Fun provides youth with a variety of opportunities to be coached, helping them gain strength and confidence in learning. Skills-based tutoring in all academic disciplines will be offered, but the primary focus is on students requiring formal support or skill remediation in math and reeding comprehension.
Our intention is to help each child improve/maintain a strong baseline in school including grades, academic confidence and social support and developing independence. Since our focus is based on life-long learning, we may not have any exact final results but we will be able to determine success with individual children by their academic performance, confidence and self-esteem. Our philosophy is based off the idea that your brain is a muscle that can get "stronger" similarly to any other muscle: hard work, practice and the necessary support. We seek to instill a growth mindset in our students meaning they view mistakes as opportunities to learn rather than a pre-determined or fixed limitation to their abilities.
Alex Ostrow
Director of Fit Brain Fun
Little bit about my background - I recently graduated from Davidson College; while in school, I worked at the Ada Jenkins Center tutoring elementary school children from Davidson, Cornelius and JV Washam. Additionally, I helped organize the after-school activity program. Spending my formative educational years working with local children at risk opened my eyes to the growing needs of children less fortunate than I was. After graduating, I have continued to partner with schools and organizations focused on underserved communities such as Hope House, Ada Jenkins and the Challenger Program in Rock Hill. Over the summers, I have spent my time in the Maine Wilderness working with boys aged 9-15 at camp to develop independence and life-long habits for success. While certainly a reprieve from the academic rigor of the school year, we hope to teach the boys equally important skills such as resilience, leadership and emotional intelligence on the athletic fields as well as increasingly difficult overnight camping trips to push their comfort zones and explore new boundaries.
Our tutoring program is unique in several ways. Our focus is homework help and ensuring students maintain a consistent baseline in school both in terms of their grades and, more importantly, understanding the underlying educational concepts. However, we also connect more deeply on items not directly connected to schoolwork such as sports or other hobbies. This connection allows us to relate more meaningfully with our students and we can push them harder both in the classroom and out.
There is ample evidence demonstrating the importance of children having an adult to listen and engage with them whether that is a parent or another role model/mentor. Many of the students we work with are from broken homes or single-parent families and they do not get ample time with adults who believe in them. School, and more simply, being a kid is hard and with the educational crisis created by the Coronavirus it is getting even harder. This doubly true for our community members that are underserved or from lower-income brackets. Our mission is to help level the playing field for all involved in the community and to provide as many kids as possible with an adult or mentor who supports and believes them. In the process we make them a Teammate 4 Life.
"I have had the pleasure of working with Alex for the past 9 years. I have seen him grown and mature from being an athletics counselor to becoming our athletic director. Alex's greatest strength is his kindness and passion working with children. Alex deeply cares about creating an enriching and safe environment for children. Alex deeply cares about creating an enriching and safe environment for children to learn and develop athletic skills. His emphasis is not only focused on skill development, but also helping children become ethical, hard working and caring individuals. He is dedicated and trustable youth development professional."
- EJ Kerwin (Camp Winnebago Head Counselor)
Testimonials
On-Site Tutoring
The Project Director will work closely with the target area schools to identify underserved students most in need of academic tutoring and support. Trained teacher tutors will work with students identified by their district or school as needing remediation or more intensive formal support for reading and comprehension. The 2-hour after-school sessions will include both small group and one-on-one sessions either (at the TeamMates4Life center or at the school), depending on the level of support needed and the logistical possibilities. Tutoring will be customized as needed based on identified needs, including ADHD, Dyslexia, and other learning disabilities. We will work with participating school districts to arrange bus transportation to the center and home as needed.
TeamMates4Life will leverage a broadband network hub model (see Figure above) to establish distance learning opportunities for students that cannot get to the TeamMates4Life Center for tutoring sessions. The network hub enables us to video stream real-time tutoring sessions that students can attend remotely from home or school. Funding from the Foundation will be used to establish distance learning classrooms in five highest need schools where technology is significantly lacking. We are requesting funding from the Foundation to purchase the Cloud Kinesthetics Learning Module Software licenses that will enable students, staff, and parents to participate remotely in group and one-on-one tutoring sessions in real-time from home or school.
The TeamMates4Life Center includes:
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Tutoring Rooms
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Art Studio
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Writing Room
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Physical Activity Area where students can explore learning in a fun way
Parental and Community Involvement
We will ensure coordination with parents through in person meetings, teleconferences, or video conferences to engage parents as part of their child's "team" to promote the child's development. Additionally, we will seek out those students in need of the most assistance; whether that be from lack of resources or struggles in the current educational climate.
Community Plan
Teammates4Life Plans to fully support:
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Local Police Department
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Local Fire Department & EMT Workers
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Veterans (specifically dealing with PTSD)
We will run various charity events throughout the year that will support the workers and their families.