May 3, 2022

As with most American high school students, my school requires me to complete ten hours of community service per year as a way to get us engaged with the community and kindle our excitement for helping others. However, this intention is often lost on high school students, who treat it more like a chore than an opportunity. Admittedly, I was no different. So, just a few months before the deadline, I begrudgingly sat down at my computer to find a community service opportunity to knock my hours out of the way. But instead of finding a quick and easy way to meet the requirement, I stumbled upon something bigger: a community of over two thousand tutors and even more learners at a website called Schoolhouse.world, founded by Sal Khan.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, very few of the traditional community service opportunities were available. So, an opportunity to teach what I already knew without leaving my home was a godsend. I began teaching classes in English, math, and chess. Though my school requirement was only ten hours, I ended up spending almost one hundred hours tutoring, and many more writing blog posts, working on the…