“My friend and I both took math and computer programming classes at the same time. I was good at the math portion but didn’t know programming, and my friend knew the programming inside and out but was less confident about the math. When we worked together, we benefitted from being able to teach and learn at the same time. After explaining the concepts, I realized that I understood the material better, and I learned a lot from my friend because she knew how to teach to a fellow student.” AK, California

"My best friend helped me through countless homework assignments for economics. I found the subject very interesting but found the quantitative side of economics incredibly difficult. He would talk me through the problem sets late at night until I understood the concept. I went on to be an economics major in college!" KG, Calif.

“I never seemed to understand anything in algebra class and reading the text book didn’t help much. Luckily my uncle, who’s an engineer, lived nearby and offered to help me and explained everything step by step. I couldn’t have majored in engineering if my uncle hadn’t spent many Saturday mornings teaching me algebra concepts that somehow I never got from my classes!” RC, Wisconsin

“My best friend was also my best study buddy. I’m glad we lived close enough to walk to each others’ homes, so we studied together the day before every test, after school. I used to find chemistry class boring and she couldn’t understand the math teacher, so I helped her in math and she helped me in chemistry, and studying was actually fun.” NS, Calif.

“First semester of high school was tough. We had mentors to help us after school if we wanted it for homework and we could also talk about other things. My mentor believed in me even when I didn’t sometimes.” Cooljazz, CA