One Step Ahead: Student-Led Tutoring for Equity
Carmen Piro tutoring via zoom.
The student operated organization, One Step Ahead, is focused on a powerful mission: “To try and minimize the socioeconomic achievement gap in CCUSD,” according to Carmen Piro (class of 2027), the president of the club. This high school club started right here at Culver City High School, and it provides free online tutoring to all Culver City elementary students. The goal of One Step Ahead is to ensure that every young student, regardless of their family’s financial situation, has access to the help they need to succeed and reach their full potential.
The club was initially founded by former CCHS student Lila Bragard, now a sophomore at Duke University, who wanted to give back to the school system. Recognizing that traditional, in-person tutoring can be expensive and difficult to arrange for many families, Bragard decided to build the program around accessibility. By offering sessions completely free of charge and conducting them online, the structure ensures that it is “really accessible for any kid that needs it,” said Piro. One Step Ahead opened its doors to all local children who have internet access. This founding principle of equity means that the club’s resources are directed toward those who need them most, helping to level the playing field for younger students.
The success of One Step Ahead is rooted in its personalized approach, which blends academic help in reading and math, with genuine mentorship. To get kids in their program, the club leaders go to elementary school staff meetings and tell them about their club. The teachers then tell the parents. Once the online forms are signed by the parent, the students are officially in the club.
A typical session starts with the tutor checking in with the student about their day before moving on to homework or class concepts. Tutors also make time for fun, non-academic activities, like playing games or learning simple crafts. As Piro explained, “It’s really impactful when you’re able to see growth within your student.” This consistent, multi-year involvement allows high school tutors to build strong, reliable bonds with the kids. This long-term relationship-building makes the learning process motivating and enjoyable, which is key to keeping young students engaged in their academic growth.
While the club’s dedication often leads to exciting moments — like seeing a student finally master a challenging concept the week after focused practice — it faces operational challenges. The biggest difficulty mentioned by the tutors is maintaining consistent communication and engagement with parents. Some parents can be busy and do not have time to reply to emails, causing problems for the club. However because of these challenges and the club, it has affected their personality in great ways. “I think it’s made me- a little bit more patient,” said Piro. “Because it takes a while for students to become, or to understand certain topics, so I think that I’ve become more patient.” Tutoring has given the tutor the experience of “Doing something once a week consistently that is not for me, it’s for someone else,” as said by Juliet Ashley, who is the vice president of the club. However, the leadership team and dedicated volunteers navigate these hurdles by remaining committed to the club’s core goal: providing reliable, high-quality support to the children they serve, ensuring the program's continuity.
In order to connect with families, the members have gone to all Culver City Unified School District’s elementary schools sites to spread the word of their tutoring services. Each site they visited sent out a link (onestepaheadculvercity.org) to all families informing them of this wonderful opportunity.
Teachers were also asked to refer students that would benefit from this type of service. Through these interactions and their online presence, the club hopes to continue to grow and help benefit students.
Ultimately, One Step Ahead is a powerful example of how student-led initiatives can create meaningful change in a community. The club continues to recruit passionate volunteers through channels like the club fair and word-of-mouth, and it has plans to secure grant funding and potentially expand its tutoring model to neighboring high schools, such as Venice High School. There are posters hung around the school to join, along with an interview after you apply. The club’s most lasting impact is twofold: it empowers elementary students to achieve better outcomes while also teaching the high school mentors valuable life skills like consistency, leadership, and patience.