Many of the students at Cluster Tutoring have shared their personal strengths. Some have specials talents that serve them well at school. Some flourish in the arts, sports, or have other assets. Here is the fourth and last installment of the 2018 – 2019 school year.
Tuesday Students
Third grader Sincere is an artist, a math whiz and an athlete. She created a Rosa Parks painting and a Martin Luther King, Jr. artwork at school that she is proud of, is mastering fraction and division, and made a 3-pointer on her basketball team, the “Heat,” which only lost two games this season. She also is on a football team and is good at Spanish.
Angela, is a 5th grader who started playing clarinet this school year. She excels at math (especially adding and subtracting fractions), reading, all types of art and social studies because she likes learning about history and wars.
Another 5th grader, Keith, is a math whiz. While he worked on mastering multiplication, fractions, and algebra this year, he already has plans to take AP math classes in high school. Keith also plays basketball with a travel team and has played the sport for three years.
Javion excels in reading and like Harry Potter books. The 6th grader loves science and has a curiosity to learn more in this realm. He also is passionate about World War II airplanes and the land and air battles that took place during WWII.
Thursday Students
Antonio, is a very talented singer. Now a high school junior, Antonio has been singing since he was 5 or 6 years old. The tenor sings with his school’s advanced chorus and with HHW Vocal Arts, an advanced program that gave him the chance to sing at Symphony Center Chicago, he said. Antonio has also sung for autism awareness, taking pride in performing alongside a student with autism playing the ukulele. He also sings and plays the drums at church at times and also for fun.
Jaliyah, a 4th grader, is writing an autobiography and has sung in two musicals, one this school year and one last year.
Elijah is also a singer, but he sings in his church’s choir. The 5th grader also does well in math, especially with multiplying fractions, and is accomplished in “cause and effect” and “problem/solution” in his reading class. He is also on a baseball team.
Kentreal, a 7th grader, is good at drawing and likes to read history books and comic books, such as Blue Marvel.
Demi has taken on something totally new recently – boxing. She said it is, “intense training to be tough.” Demi decided all on her own to do this and trains two days per week. The 7th grader said she is also a good listener and likes listening to stories. She has roller skated since she was 4 or 5 and started swimming at age 8. Demi also like to sing and dance on her own while listening to music.
Another 7th grader, Savion, is good at drawing Jump Force anime characters and telling jokes. Savion plays basketball in gym and was on the school volleyball team.
Toymeka is a highly skilled basketball player who has been playing the game since age 8. The sophomore’s team even qualified for State last year.
Another athlete, Teshell, is also a star basketball player. Her team won the championship last year and, at the time of this interview, her team’s championship fate was yet to be determined. The 8th grader has played the game since 4th grade and goes to practice after tutoring each week during basketball season. She plays in a summer league, too. She starts most games, and plans to play on her high school team. Her ultimate dream is to play for the Chicago Sky. She also runs the 100m in Track and Field, which she’s been participating in since 7th grade.
High School junior Aliyah is in a 2-year Police and Fire Academy program. It involves hands-on training to learn what both departments do, and the program helps students determine if they may take this road as a career path. She has also acted in theater at school and does well in math and gets good grades.
Sophomore A’Meena was selected by her school to go to a conference in Ohio. It helped her to become a better leader and to bring change back to her school. She planned to do service projects to help others.
Jarel, who is a freshman, has played basketball as long as he can remember and started playing baseball two summers ago. He is good at algebraic systems.
Another freshman, Nickiyah, is good at reading and likes funny books, and also likes to dance to anything.
Joseph is an expert swimmer. The freshman competes on his park district team in the 100m butterfly, freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. A highlight of competing was meeting Michael Phelps Olympic swimming partner at a meet at University of Illinois, Chicago. Joseph also plays water polo. He trains three days per week for his water sports.
