As schools across the country rushed into restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, students suddenly faced a myriad of new challenges, from access to computers and internet to finding private space to participate in Zoom classes and do their schoolwork. While families with means have hired teachers to help, some even forming “pods” for small group learning with classmates, those in middle and lower socioeconomic districts have been largely left to manage on their own. That got Arielle Andrews, JD ’21, thinking about how to help students in need, often people of color, during the pandemic—and beyond.

“I knew some of my classmates at Stanford Law might be good tutors and would help bridge the gap,” she says. She shared the idea with friends, and they spent the summer planning and building a website and online communications platform. In September, they launched Lesson Check-In, a nonprofit “created by young, Black professionals, who strive to uplift students and give back to the communities that raised them,” as Andrews says. So far, 100 college and graduate students have volunteered to provide free academic outreach and art programs to junior high and high school students across the country. And Lesson Check-In is now a D.C. public schools partner. For more information, go to https://www.lessoncheckin.org/. SL