TOUTING TUTORING

A third grader sees his Tutoring Chicago tutor before the start of their weekly 90-minute session and turns into a mini Usain Bolt, just like that. The ecstatic youngster’s all-out sprint in a hallway precedes a bear hug that nearly ejects the tutor’s lungs.

The mother of another tutee writes a note to Tutoring Chicago to thank the 58-year-old nonprofit for vastly improving her son’s reading skills and for elevating his confidence— inside and outside the classroom—from sea level to the stratosphere.

A fourth-grade student has trouble spelling his last name before being paired with a patient, resourceful volunteer in Tutoring Chicago’s Literacy Intensive Tutoring (LIT) Program. The tutor gets to know the person, not just the student, establishing a deeper connection along the way. The boy then spells better, comprehends the written word better, and now can’t wait to enter a classroom full of students to learn some more.

“Our volunteers are fantastic people, willing to give their time to help economically challenged students in the city fall in love with education through one-to-one tutoring and the steady, supportive relationships that emerge from those free sessions,” says Glencoe native and Tutoring Chicago Chairman of the Board of Directors Tommy Sternberg. “But tutors often soon realize that they get as much out of the experience as their students do.”

“Tutors have told me,” the William Blair partner adds, “that the highlight of their week is the time they spend tutoring, because it’s rewarding and because it brings them joy. They smile when they see a kid smile in a learning environment.”

Tutoring Chicago’s mission, in essence— brighten the future of Chicago’s children through the power of education and trained tutors who care as much about teaching as they do about being attentive, friendly mentors for their tutees—made Sternberg beam as soon as he heard about it from Tutoring Chicago Board Member and fellow New Trier Township High School graduate Marc McCallister.

It also struck a chord with Sternberg, who will be forever grateful for having embraced innumerable opportunities at highly reputable North Shore schools as a child of Dan, a former Glencoe Youth Baseball commissioner, and Rena, a contemporary art consultant.

“Look, education is a fundamental right regardless of where you come from or how much money your family makes,” Sternberg says. “Everyone learns differently, and not everyone can afford a private tutor. Tutoring Chicago exists to help students (first through 10th grade) develop a love of learning.

“It’s crucial for the students of Tutoring Chicago,” he continues, “to have consistency—our caring tutors provide that by showing up every week.”

The families of the 1,100-plus students who received 45 hours of free instruction and support from Tutoring Chicago in 2023 would have had to pay nearly $2,300 had they hired a private tutor at the market cost of $50 per hour. A Tutoring Chicago survey revealed that 100 percent of the tutees’ parents would recommend Tutoring Chicago and that more than 90 percent of last year’s Tutoring Chicago enrollees had improved in math and reading, per their teachers.

Now that’s making the grade.

“We’re always looking for tutors (age 18 and older),” says Sternberg, who set up retirement plans and investment accounts for Tutoring Chicago employees and was a force behind the purchase of more than 1,500 Chromebooks for the nonprofit’s online tutoring program. “But there are other ways to get involved, from fundraising to corporate sponsorship to donating.”

Sternberg, the teen, earned his first paycheck scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins in Glencoe. He’d then take scoop shots against buddies at a local basketball court. Sternberg ran for freshman class president at New Trier and won, in part because of his clever, memorable speech, “Top 10 Reasons You Should Vote For Me.”

“I made it fun, and I loved David Letterman,” says Sternberg, who also played varsity soccer (goalkeeper), served as the features editor of the student newspaper, and enlivened the radio station’s programming (as a sports talker/play-byplay announcer and Variety Show host) in high school.

“I had a tremendous experience at New Trier, both in the classroom and in extracurricular activities,” the 1998 NTHS graduate adds. “I took advantage of what the school offered. I loved learning, loved being busy. I’m constantly learning a lot now, working as a healthcare analyst on William Blair’s global equity team. It’s my job to keep up with the cutting-edge developments in medicine and science. I often talk with renowned doctors and scientists. It’s hard and challenging, but that also makes it fun.”

Not so fun for Sternberg at Duke University was studying engineering. He lasted a year and a semester as a major in that field. Courses like Electrical Engineering, Advanced Physics and Advanced Calculus flattened him.

“I got bulldozed,” Sternberg recalls. “Got my worst grades ever.” Good thing he took a Macroeconomics class in his freshman year.

Good thing his resiliency kicked in. He enjoyed the class and opted to change his major to Economics. The 2002 Duke graduate got his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2009, five years after starting at William Blair as a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Sternberg was named partner at William Blair in 2017.

In 2016 he and his wife of 10 years, Jori, a Northbrook native, and their three children— twins Marni and Levi, now 9, and Garrett, now 7—moved from Chicago’s River North neighborhood to Glencoe.

“I was fortunate, having a great childhood in Glencoe,” Sternberg says. “It’s a tight community. Biking to town, going to the beach, hanging out with friends, meeting at the park to play a pickup basketball game—super memories, all of them. I’m happy that my kids get to experience what I did as a kid growing up in Glencoe.

“My wife … she’s amazing, organized, runs the house, keeps everything going. My kids are amazing, too. My life opened up as soon as our twins were born. One of my favorite memories as a new dad is pushing a double stroller in Chicago. Now it’s so cool to see our three kids interact. Not all of them are always happy to see me after work. But if one of the three is, I’m okay with that, and happy.”

So are kids in Chicago, as long as Tutoring Chicago is up and running and fostering a lifelong love of learning.

“I attended an event at the Booth School of Business when Rahm Emanuel was Chicago’s mayor,” Sternberg says. “He spoke at it and was asked a question: ‘What’s the best way to help Chicago?’ Rahm said, ‘Make a difference in one person’s life.’

“That’s what our Tutoring Chicago tutors are doing.”

Tutoring Chicago’s main office is located at 303 West Madison Street, Suite 750, Chicago. For more information about the nonprofit, including ticket information for Tutoring Chicago’s Celebrity Spelling Bee at Park West on March 7, call 312-397-9119 or visit tutoringchicago.org. Tutoring Chicago’s golf outing fundraiser will be held June 10 at Northmoor Country Club in Highland Park.