Cedar Rapids students graduate with help of free tutoring program

CEDAR RAPIDS — A nonprofit that provides one-on-one mentoring to students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District is empowering Shelby Hittie, 18 — and students like her — to work toward their high school degree one class at a time.

Graduating from high school is “really important to me,” said Hittie, who celebrated completing an Algebra class Tuesday. “I want to feel confident and like I can do this.”

Hittie is finding that confidence at Empowering Youths of Iowa, a program stared by retired teacher Sarah Swayze in June 2021.

“I witnessed too many students falling through the cracks who couldn’t get the help they needed and leaving school,” Swayze said.

Hittie comes to Empowering Youths of Iowa — located at Collins Community Credit Union, 1800 First Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids — every day. “If you’re not doing well in regular high school and want to get your credits up and succeed, come here. This program will help you so much,” she said.

In the last year, 12 students have graduated from Cedar Rapids schools with the help of Empowering Youths of Iowa, said Swayze, executive founder of the program, which now serves more than 150 students.

Students can even attend Empowering Youths of Iowa if they are suspended from Cedar Rapids schools to get help academically and have a safe place to go during the day, Swayze said.

Free lunch is provided to students daily and a food pantry is available to them as needed with the support of the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP), an Eastern Iowa nonprofit.

“Kids don’t learn when they’re hungry or when they have the lights turned off at their home,” Swayze said.

Students come to work at the center twice a week at a minimum, with many students coming every day. The only requirement of students to attend Empowering Youths of Iowa is that they have to want to be there and work — not their parents or the school district, Swayze said.

She freely gives out her phone number to students and tells them to call — day or night.

"If it’s one o’clock in the morning or a holiday or weekend, just text me and I will get up and help you,“ Swayze said. ”These kids are our future, and I won’t put them on a clock.“

Swayze has dreamed of opening a program like this for almost a decade. “God said it was time, so I retired from the district to open it,” she said.

“Our number one goal is to get these kids their high school diploma,” said Jim West, retired teacher and education director with Empowering Youths of Iowa. “These kids have their different struggles preventing them from progressing them the way they need to.”

Cindy Franck, a tutor with the program, said she wants to help students “get their life back on track.”

Franck herself wasn’t able to graduate because she couldn’t find and afford adequate child care for her child when she was just 17. Years later, she was able to go back to school and earn her diploma.

Franck is a part of the no-judgment culture at Empowering Youths of Iowa — meeting students exactly where they are to help them graduate high school.

Terry Aron, who helps transport students to and from the center, also had a “rough go” in high school. He struggled with reading and writing because of his dyslexia. He was 43 years old when he earned his GED.

He’s proud of the students who take a change at Empowering Youths of Iowa. “I would get out of bed every day to help someone else better themselves,” he said.

Empowering Youths of Iowa is accepting donations to help fund the free lunches provided daily to students. Up to 20 students a day are fed through the program.

To donate, visit empoweringyouthsofiowa.com, mail a check to the center made out to Empowering Youths of Iowa, or stop by in-person. The center is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The program received $120,000 for the 2022-23 school year from the Cedar Rapids Community School District. They were able to purchase a van with a donation from 100+ Who Care, a Cedar Rapids Metro organization that supports local charities. They transport students to and from Empowering Youths of Iowa.

They also have received donations from Alliant Energy and International Paper in Cedar Rapids.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com