ELI student, Jess Lickstein, turned her passions for educational equity in primary school and in making positive change in in our Goleta and Santa Barbara community into her successful Education+ leadership project which provides tutoring as well as environmental education and coding enrichment to local K-8 students.
While working in various childcare settings and classrooms, Jess witnessed firsthand the stark disparities faced by children from low socioeconomic and minority backgrounds. She watched as children were treated differently solely because of their background, the color of their skin, or their zip code. As an aspiring educator, Jess felt compelled to take action and be a part of changing this narrative. For that reason, she started the organization, Education+.
With the assistance of other UCSB undergraduate students - Grace Ferguson working as vice president, Sophia Choi as tutoring coordinator, and Melody Pederson as environmental coordinator - Jess started three main programs to reduce the local educational inequities they perceive in classrooms due to systemic racism and injustices ingrained into our education system today.
The first and largest program is free tutoring and enrichment. Education+ offers free tutoring everyday afterschool from 3-9 pm to pre-k - 8th grade students remotely. Parents are able to sign up for tutoring in english or spanish and get free tutoring or enrichment in any subject. Since January, Education+ has provided free tutoring to nearly 50 students of all ages.
Over the last month, they have begun two new programs, Education+ EnvironmentalExplorers and CodeExplorers! EnvironmentalExplorers meets on several Sundays throughout the spring to partake in different environmental activities and hands-on workshops. This past Sunday, volunteers taught students about recycling and composting and helped kids to make their own reusable tote bags. These environmental workshops are held in the local area at Girsh Park from 10am-12pm. By providing in-person environmental education, they students hope to not only reduce educational disparities but inspire kids from a young age to be environmental activists for their local communities. Environmental education at an early age can play a large role in children’s desire to engage with nature, explore the outdoors, and be environmental stewards in the future, which is becoming more and more important.
Finally, CodeExplorers is an introductory course on coding led by a UCSB data science student, Natalie Feyrer with support from Jess! CodeExplorers meets once a week on Wednesdays on zoom for 45 minutes. The class allows students to learn about coding basics, gain an understanding of the vocabulary, and work on their own coding projects. Currently, there are 15 students enrolled in our coding program. Education+ will continue inspiring local children with future programming beyond this academic year.
