Testimonials – Voices from Our Families

A Family Goes to College

“Succeed2gether has given me life-changing support throughout the years. My oldest grandchild, now 23, was involved since high school, becoming the first in his family to graduate from high school and attend a university. My second, who often needed special assistance, later became the second to graduate high school and attend college. My third attended tutoring and later tutored others. My fourth, who has autism, discovered a talent for music in a violin workshop. My youngest, failing math in the 3rd grade, last year earned an “A.” She is now a proud and confident 8th grader who wants to tutor younger children.”

—Adela McKnight, Montclair resident

Families return year after year, sibling after sibling to Succeed2gether’s programs. Passion McKnight, right side, works with tutor Marilyn Graham, a retired math teacher, to gain confidence and earn top
grades in math.

Acing Math, Liking School


When third-grader Amy Martinez enrolled in Succeed2gether’s after-school tutoring program last year, she was struggling. She was confused and getting C’s and D’s in math. Overall she didn’t like school. Then Succeed2gether paired Amy with Lucas Boyce, a junior at Montclair High with a passion for math and a gentle persistence. Lucas drilled Amy on her multiplication facts. He guided her through her homework. He helped her prepare for tests and quizzes.
“This year everything’s been A-plus,” said Amy, who is now a motivated fourth-grader. “And it makes me like school more.”
Succeed2gether counted nearly 1,500 visits by students like Amy to its one-on-one tutoring program in the spring semester of 2017. And meanwhile Lucas Boyce’s community service hours turned Amy Martinez into a student who is acing math and liking school.

A Year Lost, A Summer Found

Fatih Kurt arrived in the U.S. from Turkey last year with strong math skills but almost no fluency in English. He knew how to count and the names of some vegetables. That didn’t help him very much in his freshman year at Glen Ridge High School. 

“I did not have any clue what was going on,” Fatih said. It wasn’t until Fatih enrolled in Succeed2gether’s Summer Enrichment Program, where he took classes in math and English in the morning and drawing, bridge and physical education in the afternoon, that his English began to soar. Now Fatih wants to become a camp volunteer next summer so he can help others with math. “Math is a global language,” said Fatih, who is now fluent in English.
Students flock to Succeed2gether’s four-week, all-day Summer Enrichment Program and their parents love the results. In 2017, our standardized testing showed on average a 23 percent improvement in language arts and a 61 percent increase in math — impressive in any language. The students’ percentile rankings against national norms also jumped — by 11 percent in language arts and 16.5 percent in math.

Poetry With Gusto

Nzingha Mutakabbir was an eighth grader at Glenfield Middle School when she attended our preparatory workshop for the town-wide poetry slam at Succeed2gether’s first Montclair Literary Festival.
The festival, a huge hit, drew notable authors and book lovers from all over the region. It also showcased over 100 Montclair high school and middle school students who participated in the festival’s short-story contest and poetry slam. Nzingha’s poem, “Racism Follows Me,” was delivered with gusto to an audience of 200 people and earned her a second-place finish.

 

Her poem concludes:

Attention people of America!

Oh people of America!

You may think you have the power

But we the people have heard it all

A message to America:

Racism follows us all.

 

Completed in collaboration with Montclair Art Museum

 

Here are some representative comments, based on written surveys and conversations, from our students, tutors and parents from the 2016-17 academic year:

Tutor: ““Knowing they have this program to come to every week is something the students can depend on. It gives them a rock, a foundation. My student was struggling. Now she’s much more confident. That makes a big difference with learning.”
Her student: “Succeed2gether has been so helpful. At the beginning of the year I had D’s in math. But now, because of tutoring, I have a B.”
Another student: “My tutor taught me something we hadn’t done in school before. The teacher noticed, and she said I could help out in the class. Math is my favorite subject now. It’s really fun. I used to hate it.”

Tutor: “The program allows me to meet with young people again.”
Her student: “I used to read tiny books; now I read chapter books. The teacher used to have to read for me and then I got better and better. Now I can do it myself.”

Tutor: “We dove into the elements of writing. We often re-wrote essays and reports to provide more detail and clarity. I am lucky to have worked with my student.”
Her student: “I felt that I got better at writing essays. I enjoyed the way my tutor communicated with me and understood me.”

Tutor: “This program exceeded my expectations after seeing how well-organized it is and how effective it can be. My student improved a lot in her reading comprehension and math skills and and her math teacher noticed.”
His student: “My tutor taught me a ton of stuff. My math teacher wrote on a quiz, ‘Really proud of your growth in math in the last month.’”

Tutor: “Had I been expecting a very well-organized, caring program, my expectations would’ve been entirely met. My student made a lot of progress. He’s a lot more comfortable with negative numbers. When he doesn’t know the answer he tends to lose focus. He’s learning to slow down.”
His student: “Tutoring was a great time for me. It was fun. I learned new things like how to play War and chess. My tutor helped me on my homework when I didn’t understand it. It was wonderful.”


Tutor: “I enjoyed playing games with my student and watching his math skills grow. It’s a rewarding feeling to have fun with someone but even moreso to know that you are teaching them and they are learning from you.”
His student: “The best thing I learned was how to do stuff in math, like fractions. The worst thing was that my tutor always beat me in the games we played, like Spit and Backgammon.”

Tutor: “It was a great experience. It gave me a greater understanding of teaching and community. To see the progress my student made on math and multiplication was rewarding. Thank you. It was wonderful.”
His student: “Tutoring is awesome.”

Tutor: “I loved watching my student grow in her reading skills. I made her read out loud every week and I watched her improve over the year.”
Her student: “I didn’t understand times tables and then my tutor helped me think about doing them a different way. I think tutoring is nice, fun and friendly.”

Tutor: “It was a privilege to get to know my student, to see him work hard every week to master word after word. By the end of the year we had read two novels. It felt like being part of something consequential.”
Her student: “I started to like working with my tutor. Then I felt comfortable that I could express myself. She helped me with reading a lot. My teacher noticed and I’ve done better in school. My comprehension is better. I learn new words every day.”

Tutor: “The staff is so organized, and working with the same kid all year really makes the experience. I most enjoyed watching my students grow and learn about their strengths and weaknesses. Witnessing this together — tutor and student — was awesome.”
Her student: “I enjoyed learning with my tutor because she always made it fun. Also because of checkers.”

Tutor: “Working one-on-one with a child over the course of a year is special and great. Besides being fun, it magnifies and amplifies learning. Every child is unique and creative. The program allows these qualities to emerge in a comfortable, friendly and productive way.”
Her student: “The first time I did not know my tutor and then I started to like her a lot. She’s funny, and we laugh a lot. Nobody’s cooler than my tutor and my mom and me.”

Tutor: “I helped as much as I could and created a special bond with my student. That was the best thing, and how useful I felt. I believe everything was great.”
Her student: “I thought at the beginning it was going to be fun. And it was. My mom thought it was going to help me in school. It did. I went from smart to super SUPER smart.”

Tutor: “I felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know my student. I looked forward to working with him each week. It was a great experience. He is a bright, fine young man.”
Her student: “Tutoring helped me become a little smarter. The best part was just being me and doing my homework.”

Tutor: “I’ve been trying to teach my student how to increase her speed and she’s moving along nicely. Now she knows she has to go to the children’s dictionary to look up words.”
His student: “I am so excited when I hear I am going to the library. It is so much fun.”

From Our Parents:

“My daughter is good in school, but we speak Spanish at home, so she needs more people to speak English with. This bolsters her reading and increases her vocabulary. Also, her tutor is going to university and my daughter wants to be like her.”

“We were at a kid’s birthday party and they were playing a multiplication game. My daughter knew the answers! She called out “24,” just like that. It brought tears to my eyes.”

“My son transferred to an improved reading group. The other day he brought me a book he had finished reading. He had started reading it later than the other students but then he finished it more quickly. He was really happy about that and the teacher noticed. She wrote ‘100 percent.’”

“I am thrilled with this program for so many reasons. My son doesn’t have siblings, so this is almost like having a little sister. Thank you, thank you, thank you for running this program.”

More Good Stuff

From Students:

• “I love my tutor. She is so nice and kind. She is never mean to me. Keep it up! Good job! See you next year!”
• “I learned how to use my time more wisely. If you know you have trouble with one kind of homework, you do that first.”
• “Each day it was fun and funny, and I was always prepared for my tutor to help me.”
• “I started out with a “C.” Now I have an “A.”
• “I didn’t enjoy it but I appreciated the help.”
• “They help me with my homework and things I don’t understand. I enjoyed it because I had FUN!”

And Tutors:

• “I expected a much more formal tutoring environment with a lot of straight-faced kids doing homework. But it is a very open environment, very casual, and a lot of fun.”
• “The best thing was working one-on-one with some fabulous kids, getting to see them grow and improve.”
• “It is a great organization for students who really need help and a great way to close the achievement gap.”
• “Most enjoyable was making a difference in the global sense, and showering a student with one-on-one attention.”
• “Everyone was so friendly and the kids were so sweet. I really liked just talking and working with everybody.”
• “I was glad that I could really bond with the children I worked with.”
• “I had a great time tutoring and I worked with great kids. They were so sweet and smart. I liked it all.”
• “I liked having to think of new ways to teach things.”


Additional Comments:

• “I LOVED Succeed2gether and had an amazing experience.”
• “Communication was great and the resources were available.”
• “A very good program. It’s worth it.”
• “The tutoring program is awesome! Nice job!”
• “Keep doing tutoring, please.”
• “It should always be the same.”
• “I need to thank you guys.”
• “I was crying today because I don’t want tutoring to end.”
• “Can I stay here even when I’m old?”
• “Never stop this thing.”