Meet Laurice – she’s recently started a career in banking, and loves weekly tutoring sessions with her student.
Find out what motivates her to give back to her community.
Laurice first found out about Weave in 2020, when she’d just started full-time work after finishing uni.
“Obviously work gives you a certain purpose,” she says. “But I felt like there was something missing, I thought there was more I could do.
“As a young person you’re always inundated on social media with stories of all the issues in the world, and as I’d been tutoring through uni I thought I could use my skills to help out a bit.
Laurice has been working with the same student since she started, despite some interruptions due to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
“We hit it off straight away, she’s a really smart and funny kid, and I really like working with her.
– Laurice loves the community she has found through tutoring
“Tutoring through uni you often meet kids who are only there because their parents want them to be. But my Weave tutoring student is different, she really wants to be there. It’s so great to see her improving.”
Laurice first connected to Weave because it was close to where she was living at the time.
“The tutoring program was exactly the sort of work I wanted to be doing,” she says. “I was pretty excited when I found it.”
“Weave itself has a really good ethos, everyone there is really friendly, and there’s a real sense of community. You can see the kids are happy to be there, it’s a really cool atmosphere.”
When asked what drew her to the tutoring program specifically, Laurcice says “It was something that I knew I could do. I really feel that education is power, and the more you can educate a kid, the more empowered and equipped they feel to do what they want to do. It’s a great feeling when a kid can see themselves improving and they feel really good about themselves.”
“I received a lot of tutoring myself through high school and uni, it can be hard when you’re falling behind to admit that you are, so tutoring can give that extra push. Just an hour a week can do so much.”
“It’s cool because the program is tutoring, but when you’re linked up to a student you have this friend that you’re linked up to every week, so it’s more than just tutoring, it’s also the kids having someone that’s invested in their life and interested in what they get up to.”
Laurice feels that she has really made a new friend through the Tutoring Program. “We also have a lot in common – we follow the same team (the South Sydney Rabbitohs) and even have the same birthday!”
Tutoring is also an opportunity to learn and have lots of fun:
“There was a week where we did a big science experiment together, and we had to make a volcano – it was cute to see how invested she was in her project and how proud she was of it. And I actually learnt a lot myself!”