Meet Mehmet Tascioglu, who started tutoring 15 students during COVID; 5 years later his nonprofit has delivered 60,000 free tutoring sessions

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close, high school student Mehmet Tascioglu decided to act about the disruption students were facing. On October 19, 2020, he helped start Connect Me with a small group of volunteers, offering free tutoring to just 15 students in the Metro-Detroit area. The idea was simple: give students access to reliable academic support at a time when normal classroom learning had been thrown into uncertainty. What began as a small local effort quickly grew far beyond southeast Michigan. After gaining attention from local media, Connect Me expanded its volunteer network, developed training and leadership programmes and began reaching students across the US and other countries. Five years later, the student-run nonprofit says it has delivered more than 60,000 free tutoring sessions, involving more than 600 volunteers and reaching 43 states and 12 countries.Student-run nonprofit earns NBC awardThe organisation's growth has also brought national recognition, including NBC's "Making a Difference" Award in 2021 and a "Be More" Grant from the National Society of High School Scholars in 2024. Connect Me describes itself as the largest student-run tutoring nonprofit organisation in the United States, while its mission remains rooted in the same principle that inspired its creation: helping students access education without the cost of traditional tutoring.The organisation's growth accelerated during its first two years. According to Connect Me, it developed leadership teams and tutor training programmes while expanding beyond southeast Michigan to connect students and volunteers across the United States and internationally. Its first major public exposure came in January 2021, when the organisation's story was covered by Hometown Life and FOX 2 Detroit. Later that year, Connect Me received NBC's "Making a Difference" Award, recognising the work of its young volunteers during a particularly difficult period for students.Connect Me strengthens free tutoring network in 2023As Connect Me expanded, the organisation moved beyond its original pandemic response and began developing a broader structure around free tutoring. In 2023, it says it launched new initiatives, expanded its Executive Team and strengthened partnerships with schools and youth organisations.Connect Me also received the "Be More" Grant from the National Society of High School Scholars in November 2024. The organisation says the grant recognised its innovation, leadership and commitment to educational equity and excellence.Connect Me delivers $5.7 million worth of free tutoringFive years after its founding, the small tutoring initiative had become the largest student-run tutoring nonprofit organisation in the United States. The website has helped more than 600 volunteers deliver over 60,000 free tutoring sessions, reaching students in 43 states and 12 countries.The organisation estimates the value of the free tutoring it has provided at more than $5.7 million. Connect Me's work is driven by volunteers with a passion for tutoring and a desire to give back to their communities, rather than by a traditional commercial tutoring model.Small high-school tutoring effort becomes an international nonprofit organisationThe scale of Connect Me's growth is striking because of how modest its beginnings were. The organisation started with a small group of high-school students trying to help 15 learners in their local community during an unprecedented disruption to education. Five years later, the same student-led model had developed into an international volunteer network. Connect Me's mission remains centred on making tutoring accessible while continuing to expand its services. Its stated plans for 2026 and beyond suggest that the organisation sees its first five years not as an endpoint, but as the beginning of a much longer effort to support students through free education.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.