Eatontown Teen Volunteers His Time To Teach Ukrainian Kids English

EATONTOWN, NJ — Star Students are found in classrooms, on concert and theater stages and out in the community doing good things to make life better for all of us.

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize Star Students, and we’re working to tell the stories of these outstanding kids to their neighbors.

This submission comes from Katerina M., who nominated Jayden, a high school sophomore in the 10th grade in Eatontown.

Star local student’s name

Jayden

Star local student’s home state

New Jersey

How do you know the star local student?

I am the founder of the Engin Program, a non-profit that helps Ukrainian kids displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Engin pairs Ukrainian kids with tutors around the world via Zoom so they can learn English.

Why do you believe the star local student should be recognized?

Jayden is an extraordinary teenager who has demonstrated a strong work ethic and has gone above and beyond to help our organization.

As you are aware on February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion has caused thousands of deaths and many families have fled to neighboring countries. There were many mothers with children who fled while their husbands stayed behind to fight.

These Ukrainian children had their education interrupted as schools shut down and they evacuated to new cities and countries. They focused on survival and meeting basic needs and were forced to push education to the backburner.

Our organization, which is entirely staffed by volunteers, offers help to these mothers by filling these education gaps and keeping young Ukrainians learning even when they cannot attend school.

This is done through volunteers around the world who accommodate nearly any schedule through virtual learning on Zoom — from early morning to late evening, from weekday to weekend to help teach them English.

Jayden is one of our youngest volunteers who himself is busy with school, his extracurriculars after school and work schedule. Still, since June of 2022 he has made himself available during different time zones to teach three Ukrainian students, ages 9, 13 and 16, via Zoom weekly for one hour. Two of the students still live in Ukraine and face challenges with connections due to blackouts or bombings. The other fled to Romania. Jayden teaches them how to speak, read and write the English language. He prepares them for English fluency as it will be essential and needed during the rebuild to work successfully with our allies.

Jayden is helping our program create a generation of English-fluent, culturally competent young Ukrainians ready to rebuild our nation and we are so proud to have such a dedicated volunteer help us.

Jayden is an excellent example of dedication and determination to succeed even when faced with adversity. Thank you, Jayden! (Jayden is the same teen written about in this article because of his volunteer work with his mother: Eatontown Woman And Her Son Honored For Their YMCA Volunteer Work)

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Know an outstanding student? Nominate them here.