Category Archives: Heart Staff

National Education News Source, The 74, Features Heart Math Tutoring

We are excited to have the work of Heart volunteers and staff highlighted in a recent article by national education news source The 74. The article focuses on the impact of volunteers as tutors and recognizes Heart as an Accelerate grant recipient. Heart’s CEO, Emily Elliott Gaffney, is interviewed; she shares how the Accelerate grant will support Heart in scaling geographically and connecting more students with tutors: “[Heart is] excited to contribute to the research related to volunteer-delivered tutoring. We have found volunteers … continue reading

Meet HMT Program Coordinators Cara Maddox & Heather Smith!

HMT Program Coordinators (PCs) are an important part of Heart’s program model. PCs are present at every tutoring session at their school and their role is to ensure the delivery of high-quality tutoring by providing support to both students and tutors. We sat down with two of Heart’s Program Coordinators, Cara Maddox and Heather Smith, to learn about the PC role and why they love it.

What led you to becoming a Heart Program Coordinator?

Heather: I was a math tutor at J.V. Washam before … continue reading

Staff Spotlight: Meet Greg Okotie

Meet Greg Okotie, Associate Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and HR, one of Heart’s newest employees. The role is also new to Heart. It was created with the intention of accelerating the work already happening in DEI and applying additional resources to proactively manage a strong culture. Greg’s past experiences and talents have already brought so much to Heart. He studied Mathematics in undergrad and went on to pursue a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. His career started as an … continue reading

Heart Tutoring’s Kelsey Ripley is a Guest Writer for the Community Resilience Project’s December 2020 Newsletter

Our own Kelsey Ripley was a guest writer for the Community Resilience Project December 2020 Newsletter. Read her reflections on six months of virtual tutoring below!

One Word: Hope

Dear Community Resilience Project Family,

We have finally arrived. Together, we have made it to the end of 2020. What words would you use to describe this year? I sat down to write this letter and began with that question. In thinking about my own answer, words like crisis, grief, and exhaustion quickly bubbled to the … continue reading

Staff Spotlight!

Heart Tutoring is so grateful to everyone on our team for their hard work every year, and especially this year as we transition to supporting students virtually! Keep reading to learn more about some Heart staff members who are working behind the scenes to help make the program possible.

Alexandra Blackwood

As a Program Coordinator, I serve as the liaison between my school site, school staff, students, volunteer tutors and Heart staff. I help tutors navigate our curriculum and monitor student progress. I decided to … continue reading