By: Phone Min Thant, Arts & Culture Editor
The author of this article is a Friends of Simon tutor. Following The Peak’s conflict of interest policy, the piece’s payment has been reduced.
“It’s the best job I’ve ever done,” Teagan Leong began as she described her experiences as a tutor for Friends of Simon. If you are affiliated with the SFU faculty of education, that name might ring a bell.
Friends of Simon — or FOS, as it’s more commonly called — is an award-winning tutoring project endorsed by the SFU faculty of education, bridging the gap between SFU students and the K-12 education scene in the Lower Mainland. I spoke to Leong and a few fellow tutors, asking them to share their personal stories of their times at FOS. I also got to speak with Amrit Cojocaru, the program coordinator, to learn more about the history of FOS, its functions, and its significance in the wider SFU and education communities.
Cojocaru described FOS as a tutoring and employment project, fully funded by donors such as United Way BC, with some support from SFU. “As an employment project, we hire undergraduate students at SFU and employ and train them to become tutors to work with newcomer refugee students in a K-12 setting.” FOS began as a pilot tutoring project 19 years ago, envisioned by Paul Shaker, a former dean of the faculty of education. Cojocaru said that since then, FOS has employed around 950 tutors from SFU and worked with over 5,700 students from schools in the Lower Mainland. As she described the program’s history, Cojocaru highlighted the importance of the program’s coordinators, including Angela Flumerfelt and Kanwal Neel, who have been supervising its operations since a few years after inception.
“The work of Friends of Simon is when the tutor meets the student, and all of our administrative work goes towards that priority,” Cojocaru said. She noted how, when working with students and families who are still learning English, it’s important to “think about intention and impact.” When asked to describe her experiences as a coordinator, Cojocaru said, “It’s soul food for me.”
Friends of Simon is an award-winning tutoring project endorsed by the SFU faculty of education, bridging the gap between SFU students and the K-12 education scene in the Lower Mainland.
The tutors themselves were more than enthusiastic to share their stories. Leong described a typical tutoring session after school: a question of the day, homework and worksheet time, and literacy activities, which are designed to improve the student’s literacy skills while keeping them engaged. Leong, who joined the program to gain hands-on experience in education, added, “I met a lot of new people through this program with similar interests of my own, careerwise.” Having started only last September, she said, “I was really nervous but ultimately all the tutors are all really helpful and are willing to give you tips,” referring especially to the guidance provided by lead tutors, an essential part of everyday life at FOS. “Just being able to make a difference in the lives of young kids is really important to me, and FOS definitely makes that possible.” When asked to reflect on her experiences in one word, Leong chose: rewarding.
Mattea Cifrek and Christopher Sit, two lead tutors who have been at FOS for over a year each, added their experiences to the mix. Sit described FOS as “a no-barriers program, so everything is free for the students who join, we don’t reject students, we don’t turn down anyone.” Sit described FOS as slightly different from a common tutoring program. “Whenever we mention what a tutor is, people have an idea that it’s a very one-on-one sit-down with them.” Sit added, “I think we are that but also a lot more than that. The idea is to provide tutoring but also a place to be.” Cifrek described it as providing “a safe space” for newcomer students after school. Cifrek mentioned that when working with other tutors, despite their differences, they share the same goal of “creating a positive and welcoming environment.” Lead tutors play a crucial role in coordinating daily plans for FOS’ sessions. As both Sit and Cirfek explained, lead tutors set semesterly schedules, assign tasks, consult with teams, write reports, and organize roundtable talks to gather feedback on issues like classroom management. Chris also said his experiences were “rewarding,” while Mattea similarly opted for “fulfilling.”
A key in FOS’ significance to SFU and the local education scene is its ability to build a community. While the program achieves this aim on a daily basis, the annual field trips to SFU really showcase the spirit of the community. I talked to Sunnie Kim, Elise Chan, and Dominion Sam, co-organizers of this year’s trip, to briefly comment on the significance of these events. “We want students to see themselves in university, or post-secondary institutions in the future because many of them are newcomers.” Chan added that exposing students to seeing their tutors in their own element on campus is a big reason why these field trips happen. Sam also said these field trips “are a way to celebrate the last two semesters of tutoring” and “just enjoy being with each other.”
Kim spoke to the impact of last year’s field trip: “having 16 schools altogether with all these students from different places, it just felt like it was just coming together and celebrating that we are a big community.” From a collaboration with the SFU women’s soccer team to the pizza lunch, the trip was full of meaningful moments. Kim had one particular memory, “When I saw my high school site, I could tell they were wearing their best outfits, they were talking about university and going to SFU — it was a lot of inspiring moments.” Chan agreed with Kim, saying that both tutors and students had a lot of fun. “I was a newcomer four years ago, I came here when I was in grade 11. I actually wish I could [have been] at FOS and got to experience the field trip.”
With such testimonies, it was no wonder then that when asked to choose one word to describe FOS, Cojocaru went for “community” — several other members holding similar views. The good news is that this community of tutors and educators is always hiring, so give @sfu_fos a follow on Instagram and stay tuned for more hiring drives.
