Caltech’s Rise Program Helps Pasadena Unified Students

(L-R) 2023 graduates Angelica Caamano and Michelle Abzun Rivas with tutor Maggie Siu (Photo – caltech.edu)

Hundreds of Pasadena students have turned to the Rise tutoring program, led by the Caltech Y, giving them a path toward success in STEM.

By Caltech

Four evenings each week, students from Caltech and Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) fill the large multipurpose room above Caltech’s Red Door Marketplace. The tutors from Caltech, paired with the public-school students, talk and laugh as they pore over school homework assignments.

What is Rise?

One-to-one tutoring in person or online is the core of Rise. In the 2022-23 school year, 84 public school students in grades 8–12 visited Caltech’s campus twice each week for 90 minutes of tutoring, while another 47 signed in online.

Opening again to families in October 2024, this one-to-one tutoring program typically fills up in a few weeks. Families pay $200 per academic year to support the program’s administration, with scholarships available.

A priority for Caltech students

In 2022–2023 alone, 171 Caltech undergraduate and graduate students served as Rise tutors, split about evenly between undergraduates and graduate students. More than 80 percent served on a volunteer basis. Those who were paid through the Federal Work-Study Program often continued as volunteers after their funding.

Rise is made possible by the volunteerism of Caltech students, the commitment of PUSD students, and the financial support of the Caltech Y Tom M. Apostol Fund for Science and Math Outreach, the Roethke Family Funds, the Medtronic Foundation, the Pasadena African American Parent Council, the Harris-Bacor Family Foundation, and the Caltech Employees Federal Credit Union.

This article has been edited for brevity and clarity. Read the full article at this link.