Volunteer Stories: Pearce Math Mentors

This week’s volunteer stories come from David Gaines, a Pearce Math Mentor.

Check out David’s story below, and don’t forget to submit your stories here.

What makes Classroom Coaching special as a volunteer experience?

You’re not just helping a young person pass a test or “make it” to the next grade. You are providing the opportunity and assistance to help that person have a better life. You are providing the opportunity for them to attend and successfully complete a college education, provide a better life for their families, as well as enjoy the feeling of having accomplished something significant throughout their life.

What advice do you share with your students?

There is no such thing as “guaranteed success” and perhaps there shouldn’t be. However, the closest thing to “guaranteed success” is to obtain a college education.

If you take care of your business first, nearly everything else will take care of itself.

“One doesn’t spend time, one invests it” – unknown

How has Classroom Coaching positively impacted one or more of your students?

I explained how to develop a “formal outline format” and how each paragraph relates to each sentence of the introductory paragraph. The light really came on for the student and he looked me dead in the eye and stated “this is really important”. He was talking about how this one lesson was going to impact his ability to write papers from that point on, even through college. He completely acknowledged the potential of this one lesson! This is the sense of personal reward and gratification that I am going to pursue in all of my personal, professional and career decisions from now on.

How has Classroom Coaching impacted your life?

I am finishing a Bachelor Degree and want to obtain a Graduate Degree in the next few years. This experience has given me great insight into what gives me a high level of gratification and sense of personal reward. My degree plan and subsequent career choices will be based on what I feel will provide the same level of gratification and personal reward as I have experienced during mentoring.

Finally, David adds:

You really have the potential to have a positive impact on these young people for the rest of their lives.

Such a true statement. To learn more about the program David works with, take a look at the Pearce Math Mentors page!

Don’t forget to share your stories also – they can be submitted here, or you can send me an e-mail at tmagbee@austinpartners.org with your classroom coaching experiences.

Thank you for reading, and we look forward to sharing more stories next week!