At 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, up to 32 of Pescadero’s youngest students sit cross-legged in a circle on the floor of the school district’s multi-purpose room at the start of Homework Club. In a few moments, Puente staff members will break the group into smaller knots of children and take them into separate zones. One group will practice reading and writing, another will do art and science projects, and a third group, which is struggling with math homework, will be guided toward laptops that run a special math-tutoring program. A few yards away, in a classroom provided by Puente, their parents are also focused on learning through Puente’s adult ESL program. Puente’s Ivan Ortega moves among his young charges, paying special attention to whether the students sitting in front of the ten Chromebooks are in fact completing their math homework or if they need support understanding the instructions. Ortega is tracking which students are improving, and which need the most computer time. He knows them all by name, and he pushes them when they need to be pushed. This Homework Club was his brainchild, and he is all of 18 years old, a recent graduate of Pescadero High School. Three months ago, Puente’s Homework Club consisted of five students who were struggling with math homework. The La Honda-Pescadero … Continue reading 18-year-old revitalizes Puente’s Homework Club