COLORADO SPRINGS — An Academy School District 20 student is helping his classmates rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic with a new one-of-a-kind website.
Discovery Canyon Campus High School senior Kalyan Karamsetty created "The Max Class" to help students who've struggled academically during the pandemic.
"During the pandemic, motivation has been a problem for a lot of students, and if our school that has so many resources is already doing so poorly with motivation, it just seemed to me that there were so many students out there with no resources. Who are struggling so much more than the students in Discovery Canyon," said Karamsetty.
Seeing the growing need for more resources, Karamsetty says The Max Class is composed of two-part parts to provide a wide variety of different services.
"The first one is our research repository, so that's where we have our examples, IB database of essays, calculators so people can calculate stuff. We have ACT and SAT resources that are coming soon," said Karamsetty. "The other side is our services, we have tutoring that is completely free, we also have paid tutoring for some subjects which are ACT and SAT."
Karamsetty says they also have essay editing that starts around $10, and goes up to $40 depending on the essay and word count. He says all profits made go to tutors to help them pay for college and some of it goes to maintaining the website.
While some of their services cost a fee, to help break the socioeconomic barriers brought on by the pandemic, students unable to pay will have access to all services free of charge.
"Companies that generally do these resources are also struggling. One resource that I've used has started charging people for their resources, and that's been difficult to see. This is something that's always been there for students, and now it's not as accessible," said Karamsetty.
He came up with the idea as part of the school's Diploma Program.
"What Kalyan has done is taken a core piece of the Diploma Program here at Discovery Canyon Campus and he has created this project. All kids are required to create a project and his project is amazing," said Suzanne Smelker, CAS Coordinator of Diploma Program, Discovery Canyon Campus.
As his program coordinator, Smelker says she let him take the lead on the project.
"It's about me being the foundation, and he took it," said Smelker.
To help make the website a success, Karamsetty enlisted some of his close friends.
"The essay editing is lead by Elia Muncey, I lead the tutoring, we also have a few people working on social media," said Karamsetty.
He encourages students who are struggling during the pandemic to reach out to them.
"Don't sit behind your desk in front of your computer. Unmute your microphone, talk to your teacher and if you need help, reach out to our website," said Karamsetty.
He says the website is not only for Discovery Canyon students, but all students in the city.
