Hannah Gearan ‘22: Film Studies and Environmental Studies Major with a Writing Certificate

I co-coordinate WesReads and WesMath, which allows students to work in K-5 classrooms at Macdonough and Farm Hill elementary schools to help with Math and Reading. We require Wesleyan students complete at least one shift a week, where we provide help with individual and group classwork, or really anything a teacher needs!

One thing that I think is important to mention is that we weren’t able to work at all because of COVID-19 policies last year, so some of the tutors haven’t had experience in the classroom before. I started my sophomore year, so I was able to have almost a full year working in-person. It’s really cool to see kids grow while working with them. I had this one boy who was in my math class, and he really struggled at the beginning of the year with focusing and doing multiplication on his own. His name was Aiden, and later on, he was doing math really well, and he just said, “I’m a genius!” One of my friends and I remember Aiden being a genius, and anytime one of us does something smart or whatever, we just say, “I’m a genius!” Working with kids and seeing them get more comfortable with you and their work is great. I hadn’t worked with kids before this, and I was really nervous at first, and was nervous this semester because I was with kindergarteners for the first time!

WesReads and WesMath are a great opportunity to do important, varied work with kids, and is a great way to establish a relationship with the Middletown community, because you’re there to support and center the teacher and classroom’s needs. With a lot of classes, they need another adult there and, as a result, you really get to work on diverse tasks. It’s a great opportunity to work with kids, and we really want more tutors next semester!

Hannah can be reached at: hgearan@wesleyan.edu