While most teams are hosting bake sales or dance-a-thons to raise money for this year’s Relay for Life event, tutors from the Math Learning Center are offering up math tips for actual tips. “We thought it would be fun to put a tip jar [in the MLC] where students could kind of give tips for good service and then the funds would go to Relay,” MLC tutor senior Suraj Uttamchandani said.
Uttamchandani emphasized that while the tutoring is free, the tip idea presents an easy way for students to give back.
“We have a lot of great students who work really hard … and those people really like to – I don’t want to say “give back” to the Math Learning Center – but it’s nice for them to have the opportunity to donate,” he said.
He explained that his Relay team was not founded by the MLC department, but by the tutors who work there. Their team name is “Convergent for a Cure,” a play on math terminology.
In the first day of its fundraiser, which took place during all-college hour last week, the team raised $183.
“We are really playing up the fact that we can help you with your math, that’s our thing,” Uttamchandani said.
The team has not only been successful at raising money, but has also acted as a great bonding opportunity for the tutors.
“We are starting to have a really nice community among the tutors … We were all really on board for Relay, and it was something we all wanted to get involved in together,” Uttamchandani said.
The number of tutors working in the MLC has increased this year, allowing the Relay team to have approximately 15 members.
“We just had a budget increase that we are really excited about, we have so many new tutors and so many more hours,” Uttamchandani said.
The bonding experience on “Convergent for a Cure” extends to not just the tutors, but also the whole MLC department.
“I think those people who frequent the Math Learning Center are a really big part of that community as well,” Uttamchandani said.
“Convergent for a Cure” will continue its fundraising until Relay for Life on Saturday April 5 and the tip jar will remain in the MLC.