Tutoring platform will help kids affected by hurricanes get back on track at school

For millions of students, August and September were packed with classic back-to-school moments: shopping for supplies, awkwardly meeting new teachers, and figuring out the latest possible wake-up time.

But for students affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the beginning of the academic year has included school closures, relocation, and missed classes.

Nearly 3 million Florida students missed at least two days of school, and many of the 1.4 million students in the Houston area are adapting to ongoing recovery efforts, according to the Associated Press. While officials are still assessing the damage caused in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria, it's possible that the U.S. territory's 350,000 students will be without power for months.

Varsity Tutors, a platform that offers mobile and online tutoring, hopes to help students affected by Harvey and Irma get back on track as they catch up with lesson plans and prepare for college admissions tests. The company is offering more than 2,000 free hours of tutoring to students whose schoolwork was disrupted by the recent hurricanes.

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In a recent Medium post, CEO Chuck Cohn said the company itself donated 1,000 hours, while students and tutors offered up unused hours and free services to students in need.

"Education is a vital tool to help communities rebuild following events like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma," Cohn wrote. "Access to learning is one of the brightest beacons of hope we can provide, and we encourage others to join in helping however they can."

Students will be able to use the tutoring services online or in-person in areas affected by Harvey and Irma, which can be especially helpful if internet access remains tricky. The company launched a similar effort in New York City after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Varsity Tutors is inviting people to recommend students or classrooms that could benefit from the initiative. Each student can receive as many as 24 hours of free tutoring, which the company believes is enough for students to catch up on missed classwork. Tutors will work with each student to best determine their needs.

It may not be the back-to-school moment some students dreamed about (or dreaded) all summer, but receiving free tutoring in the wake of a hurricane's destruction might create a different memory that's just as meaningful.