Words by Smiley Team
We’re profiling under 25s who give back – through their work, volunteering, or any projects that give back to people and the planet.
When Boris Johnson announced schools were closing indefinitely in March 2020, it struck Jacob Kelly that some students would find the following months much more difficult than others.
At the time, the now 22-year-old, living in London, was in his second year at university. He decided to launch the Coronavirus Tutoring Initiative (CTI) and set up a website, launching it on the same evening as the prime minister’s announcement.
The idea was to offer free tutoring to those in need. “Things grew quite quickly,” says Jacob, “and we soon had a central team of a couple of dozen volunteers, with our first tutoring session being delivered within two weeks of schools closing.”
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Jacob believes it's important for anyone who has received a great education to ensure those in the next generation are able to benefit from similar experiences. "I come from what might be considered a 'non-traditional' background in higher education," he says, "in that neither of my parents went to university and the area I grew up in has very low progression to higher education, but I was really fortunate to have ended up studying at the University of Oxford.
“I want to make sure that other young people from backgrounds like mine can achieve in the same way that I did, and I think many of our volunteers are motivated by a similar goal.”
Over the course of its lifetime, CTI ended up delivering over 50,000 hours of free tutoring to more than 2,000 students across the UK. It became clear to Jacob that one-on-one support could play a really big part in helping underprivileged students feel more confident and passionate about learning.
“In a very fortunate turn of events, I was connected with Jacky Lambert, who was building exactly the kind of charity that I had envisioned – Tutor The Nation," he explains.
[Read more stories about students giving back to those in need on Smiley News]
Jacob and Jacky worked together to develop Tutor The Nation, while he was studying for his finals. He started working full-time on the charity just after his last exam finished.
“What we do at Tutor The Nation represents a really low-stakes and fun way to have a huge impact alongside your studies,” adds Jacob. “We only ask for an hour a week from each of our volunteers, but, for the pupils that we work with, that hour is really beneficial.
“By volunteering, you're providing a space for a young person to not only become more academically able, but also to feel more interested in a subject that you're already passionate about and to understand the potential that learning has to open doors and change lives.”
Find out more about Tutor The Nation and how you can get involved.
Do you know someone 18-25 who is giving back to people or the planet in some way? Let us know by emailing [email protected].
