School of the Greats celebrates first graduates at local CEGEP

Saint-Laurent CEGEP celebrates graduates The School of the Greats program, which pairs CEGEP volunteers with elementary students, marked its first graduating class.

Saint-Laurent CEGEP celebrated its first School of the Greats graduating class on Saturday.

The program provides homework help to elementary school students by connecting them with college volunteers.

Among the volunteers who gave their time to help children learn was first-year CEGEP student Anais Goupil.

“Every Saturday, I became closer to [the kids]. And well, I learned a lot about myself too,” she said.

Goupil had chosen to study theatre with the goal of pursuing a career in comedy. Little did she know she would be teaching third graders French, science and math.

“Now I'm more like, maybe I could be a teacher, and I wasn't expecting to learn this thing from me,” she explained.

The mentorship program was founded by Alisha Wassanji in 2015, with the goal of supporting the educational success of disadvantaged students from grades one to six.

“When I became a teacher in Montreal North and one kid in four was dropping out of high school I said, ‘hey, I have a program for you. It's like the optimization of 30 years of experience,’” Wassanji told CTV.

She says the program has since expanded to 21 CEGEPs in Quebec, covering 65 per cent of the province.

After supporting the arrival of the School of the Greats in her borough, MNA Marwah Rizqy has announced she's doubling the funding toward the initiative for next year.

“Just to see all the big smiles of all the students coming here today, they're so proud and happy about themselves. We're building confidence. And those kids now they can dream about the future, going to the higher school,” Marwah said.

As students progress, the community hopes the program will continue to promote learning as a two-way street which uplifts mentees and mentors alike.