By Caroline Ponseti ‘15
As part of his preparation for applying to college, Memphis native Joel Cox ’16 spent countless hours in private ACT tutoring, ultimately raising his score six points in just seven months. But not all Memphis high school students have the same opportunities as Joel. As he explains, there are no free programs in Memphis that provide ACT tutoring for low-income students. Currently, the average ACT score in Memphis’ public schools is 16. And it’s dropping.
This motivated Joel to start ACT UP, the first project of UpSwing Memphis, a crowdfunding organization he started last year. “I wanted to do something that helped young people and, reflecting on the opportunities that benefitted me most in high school, ACT tutoring quickly came to mind. By raising my own score through tutoring, I significantly improved my chance to get into Rhodes, and was able to secure the scholarship that I did.”
Joel’s work through the Clarence Day Scholars program helped inspire him to start UpSwing Memphis. “I’ve received the best of what Memphis can offer. I went to a great high school, I go to the best college, and I’ve had a lot of wonderful Memphians help me along the way,” he says. “So I feel obligated to give back.” Cox saw crowdfunding as a natural way to do that. “Social media consumes more and more of our lives every year, so I really believe that we need to find ways to use social media sites as a tool to better our community.”
In addition to Joel, Upswing Memphis is run by fellow Clarence Day Scholars Ellery Ammons ‘16, Adrian Williams ‘17, Quin Teachey ‘18, and Rachel Glazer ’16. “Rhodes students have been instrumental in shaping the mission and the vision of UpSwing Memphis, and in coordinating the event and the fundraising process,” says Joel.
Using the crowdfunding site Ioby, UpSwing Memphis raised $2,600 to cover the costs of ACT UP, including tutoring, practice tests, and study materials. As a result, over the weekend of March 21st, 32 high school students attended two days of tutoring on Rhodes’ campus, led by the same three tutors that taught Joel when he was in high school. “After the program, the tutors told me that it was amazing to teach a group that was so eager to learn,” he says. “I’m sure that every point that these students raise their score will make a really big difference and open a lot of doors for them.”
UpSwing Memphis will launch their next project in the 2015 fall semester, and the organization also plans to continue ACT UP next year.