House of Wisdom
The Daily, the University of Washington's student newspaper, spent time with our students, tutors, and staff to understand what House of Wisdom actually does. The piece traces the organization from its first five families to the tutoring community it is today, and it does not look away from why some of our students have stopped coming.
Today: tutoring sites north of Seattle and more than 50 rotating volunteers.
How it started
Our founder and CEO, Ahmad Hilal Abid, was 17 when he began tutoring five families out of his own garage. He had arrived from Afghanistan three years earlier, and the article draws a straight line between that arrival and the reason House of Wisdom exists at all.
We are bringing many immigrants and underserved communities together because myself, when I came here, I didn't find a community.
Ahmad Hilal Abid, Founder and CEOAbid, now a fourth-year political science student, started a House of Wisdom chapter at the UW in 2023. The article notes that one of its first acts was a multicultural event built deliberately across community lines, at a moment when he was seeing hostility directed at Muslims and Jews alike.
What the reporting found
The piece covers the shape of the programs: homework support, coding classes, exam preparation, and help for students moving on to higher education, including the financial aid process that so often decides whether college is possible.
For these kids that are in our programs at such a young age, they're already figuring out, "OK, I want to do this, I like this, I like that," so it's setting them up for success.
Idris Ahmad, Tutoring and Mentorship LeadIt also picks up something we have been building quietly: support that goes past academics. As Jiwan Kaur Tib, our operations assistant, told The Daily, we recently started a program focused on healthy habits and social-emotional learning.
Why some students stop coming
The hardest part of the article is the part we would rather not have to talk about. Abid told the reporter that recent immigration enforcement operations are why some students disappear from our classrooms or drop out altogether. Our staff describe the classroom as a sanctuary, and we have protocols meant to keep it that way.
We also try to use our platforms and our classes as much as we can in light of world events, to kind of give students a safe space. We want to facilitate the growth of these students, regardless of where they came from and what they may be struggling with at home.
Jacob Hilse, Senior MarketerRegardless of politics, these kids are innocent. These kids deserve better.
Ahmad Hilal Abid, Founder and CEOIt is also why we are building our own online tutoring, so that a student who is afraid to travel, or whose family is, can still get help. That work is underway now.
Who is in the room
One number from the article is worth repeating: more than 75% of our students are Latino. Alongside them are African American, Ukrainian, Asian, Afghan, and Middle Eastern students. Abid put it plainly to the reporter: you can see the diversity in the household.
That mix is not incidental. It is the point. A student who felt like an outsider somewhere else should not feel like one here.
Read it yourself
We are grateful to Nyla Moxley and The Daily for taking the time to report this carefully, and for talking to the people who actually do the work. The full article is on their site, and it is worth your five minutes.
Read the full article on dailyuw.com
If it makes you want to help: we are always looking for tutors, and every student we serve is served for free.
