10 Years of Math Motivators: Building Skills, Confidence and Connections

Ten years ago, Math Motivators began with a simple idea: connect students who could benefit from additional math support with people who had the skills to help. 

What started as a small group of volunteer tutors in Hartford has since grown into a program that has reached thousands of students and engaged volunteers in communities across the country. But behind that growth is a story about much more than numbers. It is a story about relationships, confidence, and what can happen when people come together around a shared belief in students’ potential. 

As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Math Motivators during the 2026–2027 school year, we spoke with several people who helped shape the program in its earliest days: co-founder Barry Jacobson; early volunteers Danielle Deschene and Joe Finch; and Emily Banks, principal of Achievement First Hartford High School, where the first program began. Their memories offer a look back at how an idea became a lasting program, and what they hope comes next. 

The Beginning of a Decade  

Math Motivators began taking shape in 2015, when Barry Jacobson was teaching in Connecticut and saw firsthand that many students did not have access to private tutoring available to their peers. 

Barry reached out to his friend Jim Trimble, then a math professor at the University of Connecticut, to see whether college students might be interested in volunteering as math tutors. From there, the pieces began to come together. 

In February 2016, the first Math Motivators program launched in Hartford with volunteer tutors supporting students with SAT preparation. By the end of the 2016–2017 school year, Math Motivators had joined The Actuarial Foundation and expanded to three programs in Hartford and one in Chicago. 

From the beginning, Barry’s vision extended beyond improving test scores or helping students solve equations. He believed confidence and mentorship could be just as important as strengthening math skills.  

For Emily Banks, Principal at Achievement First Hartford High School when Math Motivators began, the need was clear. Algebra 1 was an important gateway course for students, and individualized tutoring could be difficult for a school to provide at scale. 

“The idea that Math Motivators was able to provide regular small group tutoring sessions, or in some cases one on one, was really powerful,” Emily reflected. 

Many students did not have the resources to pay for the kind of private SAT preparation available elsewhere. Math Motivators could help close that gap by providing support at no cost. 

Taking a Chance with Math Motivators  

Launching a new program required people on both sides of the equation to say yes. For students, that sometimes means choosing to spend extra time doing math. Emily still remembers one of those first SAT tutoring sessions. Students at the school had an early dismissal on Fridays, so staying behind for additional math support was entirely their choice. The school initially offered food and other incentives to encourage participation. 

Then something happened: the students kept coming back. 

“I just remember the first Friday SAT session that they held, and the whole junior wing of the building just being like a buzz with students who had, again, chosen to stay after,” Emily said. “That many students, some of whom were not the kids that I would have ever expected, staying after and just doing math with a bunch of actuarial students. It was very exciting.” 

On the other side were volunteers taking a chance on a new kind of service opportunity. 

Danielle Deschene was an actuarial student at UConn when she learned about Barry’s idea through Jim Trimble, who was her advisor. She already enjoyed tutoring and was interested in finding ways to give back, so she attended an information session. Soon, she was part of a small group of students carpooling from UConn to Hartford to help students prepare for the SAT. 

The volunteers completed the SAT math practice test themselves, reviewed the material, and thought about the test-taking strategies they could share.  

“We could tell it was going well, but to have that confirmed later on that, yes, we did bring up their scores, was really nice,” Danielle remembered. “We really did have the opportunity to make a difference.” 

A Community of Actuaries Built on Volunteering 

As those first UConn volunteers graduated and entered the workforce, Math Motivators began building another important part of its identity: engaging professional actuaries and companies in the program. 

Joe Finch became involved during this period. An email circulated within his company’s actuarial community explaining that Barry was looking to expand the tutoring program beyond college volunteers. Joe was living in Hartford, finishing his actuarial exams and looking for a meaningful way to use some of his newly available time. 

He began tutoring and soon found himself helping Barry make connections with other early-career professionals and actuarial leadership development programs.  For Joe, helping students quickly became much more than another volunteer activity. 

“I know I personally found it very fulfilling to be doing this tutoring,” he said. “Let’s say it was a tough day at work, but you were able to help some high school freshmen on their algebra or pre-algebra, get over a concept that they had been struggling with, that would make my whole day at times.” 

Actuaries brought more than math knowledge to the sessions. Joe found that skills developed through the profession, such as breaking down complex topics, looking at problems from different angles and explaining technical concepts in approachable ways, translated naturally to tutoring. 

Math Motivators Builds Confidence 

For those who were there in the beginning, one theme comes up repeatedly: confidence. For Danielle, the first barrier is often not whether a student can understand algebra or another concept.  It is helping them believe they can. 

“A lot of being able to provide them with this one-on-one attention is about kind of showing them, not just teaching them the content, but showing them that they’re capable of learning it and understanding it,” she said. 

Then comes the moment tutors hope for: when a concept that once seemed intimidating finally clicks. Joe remembers working with two students who were struggling with a concept during one of his early years of tutoring. He tried explaining it in different ways, unsure whether he was getting through to them. By the end of the session, something changed. 

“The light bulb went off, and these two students were able to get it,” he recalled. What stayed with him was the individualized attention that made that breakthrough possible. “Seeing them be able to go from not understanding something and not having the confidence necessarily to believe that they can understand it to, in the course of 45 minutes or whatever, get over that hump, that is what you hope to get out of as a tutor.” 

Emily saw that same transformation from a school perspective. Students sometimes walked away from tutoring, surprised that doing math hadn’t been as intimidating as they expected. “I think some students really saw that, like, ‘I know more than I think I do. And this is not as scary or intimidating as I thought it was. I just really needed somebody that had the time to sit down and explain it to me.’” 

That realization gets to the heart of Math Motivators: math skills matter, but so do encouragement, mentorship and having someone who believes you can succeed. 

Math Motivators Builds Relationships  

Those relationships have created some of Danielle’s favorite memories from her years with the program. In one of the early programs at Achievement First, she remembers working with a strong student preparing for the SAT and talking with him about actuarial science as a possible career. He eventually became interested in attending UConn and potentially studying actuarial science himself. 

Years later at Great Path Academy, Danielle experienced another full-circle moment. She had tutored the same student through her freshman, sophomore, and junior years. The student did not participate in Math Motivators during her senior year, but Danielle unexpectedly saw her again through a mentoring and job-shadowing program at The Hartford. “She was here shadowing the person who worked at the desk in front of me,” Danielle recalled. “It was a very cool full-circle moment.” 

Even smaller interactions have stayed with her. Former students who are no longer in the program will stop by to say hello. Thank-you cards from another group of students still sitting at her desk. Those moments show how Math Motivators can grow into something larger than the hour spent working on math each week. 

As Danielle explained, students often ask volunteers why they are there if they aren’t paid. Over time, the answer becomes clear after the volunteers return because they care about the students and want to see them succeed. 

Growing From One School to Many Communities 

As Math Motivators grew, the opportunity became clear: schools wanted the support, and the actuarial community had people with the skills to provide it. The challenge was connecting the two. 

As more volunteers became involved, the program expanded. Danielle remembers watching people use their professional and personal networks to bring Math Motivators into new communities. “It was just cool to see people, tutors or the Foundation or whoever it might be, kind of leveraging their networks to grow the program,” she said. “Just the speed in which it’s grown has been kind of crazy to watch.” 

The program also faced challenges no one could have anticipated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Math Motivators moved tutoring online. Volunteers and schools learned new technology and found ways to keep students connected during an extraordinarily difficult period. For Danielle, that experience reinforced just how valuable in-person tutoring and relationships can be.  

Emily sees that lesson as particularly relevant today, when technology is increasingly viewed as a solution to educational challenges. “I think it’s a really powerful testament to the importance of in-person interactions and…the relationships, all the sort of intangibles that go along with that beyond just understanding math better,” she said. 

Looking Ahead for Math Motivators  

Ten years later, Math Motivators has come a long way from that first group of volunteers traveling to Hartford High School.  

For Emily, seeing the program continue and expand is a testament to Barry’s willingness to see beyond the needs of one school. “I’m so impressed with the vision he had,” she said. “He saw this as an opportunity to not only help the school that he was serving on the board of, but also was very much thinking about, ‘How can I help other schools as well?’” 

Joe also looks back at those early years with pride. Nearly a decade after he first became involved, helping Math Motivators grow and working directly with students remain highlights of his professional journey. “It is extraordinary,” Joe said. “As I look back on my career, this is easily one of the most fulfilling things I’ve been involved with.” 

Barry shares that pride, not only because of the number of students Math Motivators has helped, but because of the effect the experience has had on volunteers. Again, volunteers tell him that they receive just as much from tutoring as they give. Now, his focus is on the future. The model works. Schools and students continue to need it. The opportunity ahead is to bring more volunteers into the program so Math Motivators can reach even more students. 

Danielle has a simple message for anyone wondering whether one hour of tutoring can really matter. “One hour of our week…it genuinely could make the difference for some of these students’ future,” she said. Whether that hour helps a student improve a test score, discover a career they had never considered or simply gain confidence, “it really can make a difference.” 

After 10 years, thousands of math problems and countless moments of encouragement, the idea behind Math Motivators remains remarkably simple: to give a student personalized support, show them someone who believes in their ability and help them discover what they can achieve. 

The first decade showed just how powerful that can be. Now, Math Motivators is ready to see what the next 10 years can bring. 

Interested in being part of the next chapter? Learn more about Math Motivators and how you can volunteer to help students build their math skills and confidence. https://actuarialfoundation.org/programs-resources/math-motivators/