When we think of a tutor, we see a quiet academic donning a tweed blazer with worn elbow patches. But that is not Jon Bukowski. Jon is a dynamic, highly engaged ‘student-whisperer’ on a mission to empower and educate. His own story is a lesson in finding your true calling and aligning professional success with personal values. Jon graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree and began his career as an engineer. But also drawn to entrepreneurship, it wasn’t long before he and a partner set out to start their own software company. Jon began tutoring as a way to supplement their new venture, and as luck would have it, just as he was recognizing that the software gig offered little to no social interaction, his role as teacher became a calling he simply couldn’t ignore. At the tutoring center where he worked, he was alarmed to see how the corporate methodologies and applications didn’t always serve the interests of the students he was hired to help. This disconnect wasn’t just disappointing, it was antithetical to his values, so he decided to do something about it, and Jon B Tutoring came into being.
In an effort to be more engaged in his life’s work, to prioritize his own mental health and job satisfaction, Jon took his engineering prowess and set out to teach – this time, his way. “I could see a better way, and I felt compelled to act on it. I wanted to achieve an excellence that served both the parents’ and the students’ goals – and often these two are very different. Too few tutors think to engage the student!” But engage he does because Jon knows that the key to improvement in any area is confidence. “Confidence is inextricably linked to motivation and to overall effort,” he told me. As such, his company delivers students a nuanced and personalized experience of learning. They dig deep, they listen, they connect the dots so that it’s not about an improved score without context. “It’s my job to find out who this person wants to be in the world, and the trick is to connect how this score or grade correlates to the doors we need to open to get them there. At the end of the day, the work needs to be done, but it can and should be done expressly for a purpose that the student believes in and wants to actively contribute to. What we’re really good at is helping them care about the work, to find the motivation to connect to it with a vision for the future.” Jon’s team takes a ‘life coach’ approach in helping students ask broader questions: What will they major in? Why? What are their interests? How will this investment in learning get them from here to there? So, lessons are more contextually relevant, goals become more concrete, and the reason to work hard becomes more obvious. “My students listen to me because they see what I am telling them as specifically relevant to them. While yes, the point is to get higher grades & scores, to then get into a better college, and end up with a better job afterwards. What this is REALLY about is not the SAT score but my student’s enhanced ability to strive and then to thrive, and for them to better understand why it matters that they do it.”
From the perspective of any busy parent, this assistance is a crucial supplement to what they can provide their child on their own. Jon’s commitment to get to know the whole person has turned more than a few non-college-bound students into impressive college grads. Jon describes the pressure valve in some families (discussing SATs/grades/college admissions) being released into his capable hands rather than constantly being a source of family tension. He offers peace of mind to busy parents – many running their own businesses - who just want the best for their children but simply don’t know how to help them. “Our focus is on problem-solving with confidence, whether for homework help, enrichment, or test prep. It’s all about building confidence in the student and easing the burden on families.” Jon is so committed to his mission that when he’s not tutoring, he’s often volunteering at the Wayne Public Library, where he runs their Chess club and teaches classes like Robotics, Escape Room, and even one that focuses on helping students choose their major. Jon loves his work and the freedom it affords him to explore his own passions: snowboarding, longboarding, and competitive ping pong! When we talk about the future, he says he’d like to expand the business. But for now, he’s savoring the present, inspiring others to achieve their best, and helping local families one student at a time.
Jon B. Tutoring offers in-person, remote, 1x1, and small group sessions for K-12 in Passaic and the surrounding counties. They specialize in SAT/ACT prep, Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, and Physics, as well as other subjects. To find out how they can help your student, call Jon at 973-220-2622 or via email at bytesandbooks0@gmail.com.