Ricky Jagroo ’22, team leader for StartUp Showcase team Village, is a computer science major with an education minor. As part of one of his courses for his minor last year, Jagroo participated in service learning at Cesar Batalla School in Bridgeport, Conn. where he tutored small groups of middle school students. From that experience it was clear to him the impact of his actions, and from then on, Jagroo became interested in ways to give back to classrooms in need.

“Everyone knows the problems of middle school education,” said Jagroo. “Teachers are overworked and students are falling behind, but no one takes meaningful steps forward. They’ll say it’s a funding problem, or a resources problem, but maybe it doesn’t have to be. I see classroom resources all the time. They are college students who can and want to help.”

Once Jagroo learned about the Showcase he thought it would be the perfect venue to pitch a solution to the problems middle school teachers and students face of not having enough support in the classroom. He reached out to his fellow computer science peers and asked if any of them were interested in giving back to middle school education. Through those efforts he recruited four additional team members to form team Village.

Village is a safe and interactive mentoring platform that connects middle school classrooms with college students engaged in service learning. The team has developed an educational web service that plugs into existing learning management systems to provide customized support for middle school teachers. The app matches qualified college students to act as teaching assistants to middle school teachers in need of support. Students perform tasks such as assisting with grading assignments, developing lesson plans, and integrating technology in the classroom. A few unique aspects of the app include the ability to analyze work patterns in the classroom and to conduct group and individual tutoring.

“Village was an idea intended to come at the perfect time following the pandemic,” said Jagroo. “Covid changed education, and so many students are now expected to learn through a screen. Village is meant to be one more resource to address the needs of education. I believe everyone has something valuable to contribute.”

To learn more about Village’s business plan, and to see four other student teams pitch live in front of a panel of investors for seed funding, register for the tenth annual Fairfield StartUp Showcase next Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at the Quick Center.