Trinity-HMTCA Partnership: How Tutoring Program Has Benefited Students of Both Schools

Nick Cimillo ’26

Features Editor

In 2022, Trinity College formed an expanded partnership with Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA), a 6-12th grade magnet school located at the corner of Broad Street and Vernon Street, just across the street from Trinity’s campus. This new relationship has afforded HMTCA students with various opportunities, including taking introductory Trinity courses in select subjects, taking classes on Trinity’s campus and receiving after-school tutoring from Trinity students. The Tripod talked with Liliana Polley, the director of strategic partnerships for the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER), about the goals for the partnership and how it has evolved in its time. In addition, one of the student tutors, Otis Klawans ‘25, weighed in on how being a mentor has changed his time at Trinity. 

According to Polley, “The partnership aims to create meaningful education connections between HMTCA and Trinity College.” A big part of this partnership is the tutoring program, which offers mutual benefits for both Trinity and HMTCA students; “15-20 Trinity College students assist HMTCA students with homework and provide mentoring, as well as field trips and enrichment activities. Trinity students develop leadership skills as they create a sense of community and apply their own knowledge to benefit others as they tutor. By successfully completing the program, the tutors also fulfill a Wellness Requirement in the TrinityPlus curriculum. The tutors, especially educational studies majors, gain invaluable hands-on classroom management experience by working directly with students and helping them succeed.”

Even beyond academics, the partnership affords HMTCA students athletic and recreational benefits from the College. “We also increased access to Trinity’s athletic facilities and spaces on campus for educational purposes and competitions. For the last two years, Trinity’s Main Quad has also been the host site for HMTCA’s high school graduation ceremony…In addition, in 2021, we launched the TRIN-LUNCH Program, where a selected number of HMTCA students visit Mather Dining Hall once per month to explore the college dining experience and engage with Trinity’s student leaders, faculty and staff.” Many more opportunities have since become available for HMTCA students through the partnership: “New this fall, HMTCA students will also have the opportunity to participate in the Connecticut Invention Convention through our partnership with Trinity’s Entrepreneurship Center…[and] HMTCA students are able to access [more] campus resources, like the Writing Center, Admissions and the Career and Life Design Center free of charge.”

HMTCA student mentor Otis Klawans ‘25 spoke to his own experience with the tutoring program. “I’ve been doing it my whole time at Trinity,” Klawans began, “[since] October of my freshman year. It used to be called J-Z AMP (Jones-Zimmerman Academic Mentoring Program); that was the old program that HMTCA had with Trinity…and [you’d] follow a group of [that] started in sixth grade through sixth, seventh and eighth grade, [and] I was with the group for eighth grade.” Klawans was a sophomore when the current partnership was introduced in 2022, which opened up tutoring for grades 9-12 as well.

In terms of tutoring subjects, HMTCA students “are coming in with pretty much everything… math, science, history, [even] other elective classes and college essay writing. I primarily help with essay writing; that’s something a lot of students come in with…I used to hate writing, and now, because of Trinity, I write all the time.” What’s more, the responsibilities of these students often go further than just helping out with homework. “It’s not just tutoring – it’s also mentoring. It’s often the same students and the same tutors there all the time…so beyond just helping – looking over their shoulder, giving them practice problems or explaining concepts – [they should be] getting to know the student and really bond with them.

Klawans, an Urban Studies and Educational Studies double major, picked up an interest in education thanks to his experience as a tutor at Trinity. “I didn’t come to Trinity wanting to go into teaching; that just wasn’t on my radar,” Klawans concluded. “I wanted to go into urban planning. But [since] I first got the job, … I’ve worked in different school environments; I work at the library downtown for their tutoring program…This thing that I just randomly applied to is now my favorite aspect of my Trinity experience.”