Introducing UPLift Crew: How I Started an UPchieve High School Tutor Chapter

This article was written by a high school student volunteer in UPchieve’s National Tutoring Honor Society. We love sharing student voices to show the power and impact of tutoring.

From Volunteering to Leading

Tutoring UPchieve is rewarding by itself, but what if you could bring your friends together and start an UPchieve tutor chapter? In this post, I’ll share my journey as a student leader who launched a student-led academic coach chapter that has already helped more than 300 students across the country.

Launching UPLift Crew

We’re a UPchieve high school student tutor team, and we’re the first and the leading chapter of UPchieve’s National Tutoring Honors Society program. We have 34 members, mostly from the NY/NJ area, and I expect more members as the new school year begins. Together, we’ve helped more than 300 students and tutored for more than 100 hours. 

You might wonder why start a chapter and ask, “Can’t you guys just volunteer individually?” But having a chapter has something more than just tutoring as an individual volunteer on UPchieve. 

How It All Started

The idea of founding a student-led coach club came from my personal experiences. I’ve been an active tutor on UPchieve since 2023, tutoring math, computer science, reading, and social studies. Back in the days when the UPchieve referral system wasn’t widely known, I used to informally introduce UPchieve to some of my friends who helped others with test prep and homework in various subjects. It was great for them, as it gave them a chance to expand on their hobby of helping others and earn community service hours at the same time. 

The idea of founding a student-led tutor team surfaced last school year when the NHS advisor at my school brought up the discussion topic of “bridging the school and the outside community to help people.” Since many of my friends were already coordinating the group-based volunteer efforts as part of their NHS/SGA projects, I thought I could combine my experiences of personally tutoring on UPchieve and spreading the word to my friends at a larger scale with more students involved. 

I reached out to one of the staff members, hoping to get some advice on taking the initiative, and thankfully, I was offered the opportunity to start a pilot chapter of the high school chapter program UPchieve was planning. Based on that, I recruited members from my school (though now we have members from different schools), set up the rules for the team, and kicked off in April 2025. Later, as we grew, we named the team ‘UPLift Crew,’ with the hope that students we tutored would feel uplifted by their boosted academic performance. 

Keeping the Team Active

Starting the team was one challenge; keeping it consistent was another. Since volunteers aren’t paid, it’s easy for members to drift away. To keep us motivated, I introduced systems and small incentives. 

Participation Requirements: Members tutor for at least 1 hour every 2 weeks. We track this on a shared spreadsheet. Not meeting the requirement doesn’t remove them from the team, but it does affect eligibility for awards. 

Certificates & Awards: Every quarter, we recognize top tutors based on the time tutored and sessions held. Certificates come in three levels – bronze, silver, and gold (for 40+ hours and consistent activity all year). These are officially issued by UPchieve and look great on college applications. 

<Different rules and awards we have for the team>

<Score calculation formula for nominating the top tutors of the quarter/year>

Tracking Impact Visually

To make volunteering progress more engaging, I created a graphic dashboard. Using our spreadsheet data, I built charts that show both individual and team totals. Members can see how many hours they’ve contributed and compare with friends in a spirit of healthy competition. This simple visual tool really motivates us to tutor more. 

Beyond Tutoring

Our team doesn’t stop at tutoring. We also:

Give feedback to UPchieve

Members share their experiences in meetings, which staff use to improve the platform.

Host interviews & events

Recently, we spoke with an elementary school teacher from a Title I school in Los Angeles. It gave us a deeper understanding of the students we’re serving. (Watch here: https://youtu.be/xRfRZbWAItU?feature=shared) 

About the Author

Jun (Seojun), Class of 2026, is eager to help the community using small things he has learned, such as coding, music, and more. You can easily spot him in the school music room playing his clarinet.