Today we’d like to introduce you to Tessa Tricarico.
Hi Tessa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As a 2020 high school graduate from the Poway Unified School District, I felt the effects of the pandemic on my education. While my “drive-through graduation” was a defining moment in history, the most significant altercation that COVID-19 brought to my journey was beginning my college career from my childhood bedroom through a computer screen. It did not take long for me to realize that I was not happy and wanted to be on a different life path. Ultimately, I decided to take that semester of school off. While it was an emotional decision, I came to realize just how lucky I was to even have that opportunity. Had I still been in high school or even middle school, I would have felt stuck in that drowning feeling. I felt empathetic toward all of the younger students who I realized did not have the option to “take school off” when the times got challenging. I realized that I needed to do something to help them but that I alone would not be enough. I then gathered together a group of 4 alumni from my high school district, called ourselves the “Alumni Tutors,” and began marketing to my previous teachers. Our organization was unique — we offered tutoring by mentors who had JUST taken the courses that the students were in. This meant that our tutors already had personal connections with the teachers that our clients were dealing with. Therefore, we knew exactly what was expected of our students, and we could lead them there better than anyone else. We quickly grew into a successful business and had to continue upgrading each year. As we approach the start of the 2022-2023 school year, I am onboarding 15 tutors with the expectation to hire more in the winter. We are also coming up quickly on our 1,000th session. That is…1,000 extra hours that Poway Unified students and alumni have dedicated to academic success!
Personally, I returned to school the next semester and switched my major to Business Administration. I am continuing to learn how to better Alumni Tutoring and my community every day.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest challenge of running Alumni Tutoring is balancing being a 20-year-old CEO while simultaneously being a business student at a university. I constantly feel like I am chasing myself trying to catch up on my education to where I am at in upgrading Alumni Tutoring. For example, I have struggled with the accounting elements of running a company since its creation but only recently became eligible for the Accounting 1001 course at my school. As I am sure any small business owner can attest to, I wish I had all of the knowledge at once! Wouldn’t that be nice?
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Alumni Tutoring is known for its automatic connectedness and relational aspect to our clients. Each tutor has recently graduated from the exact or neighboring school of the student they mentor. This instant connection allows for a more comfortable atmosphere during the sessions and helps the student to really master what is expected of them. I am most proud of the reputation I have built for Alumni Tutoring. As a 20-year-old female CEO, it is hard to prove my worth when marketing my company. I have fought this by using an entirely online approach. Every pitch I make is made through social media or direct emails. This helps hide my identity — one that is not taken seriously in the business world. I also use our statistics and testimonials to gain the trust of our potential clients. We are nearing our 1,000th tutoring session since the creation of the business and have served nearly 40 families from the school district we operate in, ranging from 3rd grade to 12th grade.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Most people may not realize just how successful our employees are! All of our tutors for the 2022-2023 school year earned grade point averages (GPAs) between 3.8 and 4.54. Further, we have one tutor who graduated as their high school’s valedictorian and one tutor who graduated high school in a mere 3 years. Above that, every tutor has years of mentoring and leadership experience, as well as impressive involvement in the Poway Unified School District, already.
Contact Info:
- Website: alumnitutoring.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alumni.tutoring.sd/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/alumnitutoringsd
