When high school junior Joshua Lee was struggling to create an algebra study guide a few months ago, his mom reached out to University of Chicago’s free, after-school Homework Help initiative. Homework Help wasn’t meeting in person over the University’s winter holiday, but Brady Janssen, a UChicago third-year and Homework Help site coordinator, offered to jump on a Zoom call with Lee that same night.
“Brady was just awesome—this is something that she is obviously passionate about, she has genuine care for students,” Lee’s mom Naamah Grover, who lives in Bronzeville, said. “It’s convenient. It’s local. I couldn’t be happier about this, especially because it’s free.”
Overseen by the University’s longstanding Neighborhood Schools Program (NSP) within the Office of Civic Engagement, Homework Help was established to build on NSP’s existing tutoring program, Maroon Tutor Match, which provides affordable one-on-one tutoring for South Side youth; and complement NSP’s core work placing UChicago students in educational support roles in local schools and communities. The initiative, which launched in late 2022, currently runs Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at University Church on UChicago’s campus and at Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn.
Lee and Janssen worked together online and in person over three sessions and Lee aced his study guide. Test scores at UChicago’s Charter School Woodlawn Campus, where Lee attends, were still being tabulated but Grover says they know he must have done well enough on his final to bump up his total letter grade.
“For him to have only had three sessions and been able to catch on and do very well, that in itself lets you know how valuable it is to have program like this available,” Grover said. “And just to have people that will give up their personal time like that—Brady was tutoring him, and I heard ‘Dinner’s ready!’ [through the Zoom screen] and she was like ‘One moment!’ and took 30 more minutes to help him—I was just so impressed and so grateful for that.”
Brady explains things in a way that make them easier for Lee to understand, he says, and shares notes from their sessions with him to review on his own afterward so the concepts really stick.
“She’s been a real big help to me, I feel more confident,” Lee said.
That newfound confidence is also already helping inspire Lee to start thinking about life after high school. He’s recently developed an interest in studying electrical engineering and working in game design and says working with Brady has motivated him further.
“A year ago, college was something that Josh couldn’t even imagine or visualize but we are around the neighborhood, and we do drive through the UChicago campus and sometimes we’ll stop by the food trucks and he’ll be in line with the students and now he’s starting to get a visual: this is campus, this is college,” Grover says. “And having a tutor like Brady that’s in college is like ‘Okay, I could do this for somebody someday.’”
