Oliver’s Story

Oliver Sabet, Freshman at UCONN doesn’t like the bad rap that math gets.

“There is this stereotype that elementary kids are stressed out doing math. Like they’re just crunching numbers and feeling like it's laborious,” he said.

“But I feel more like math is a puzzle, and it can be fun to unravel what the answer is.” 

During his two years as a Mentor with the Infinity Squad, Oliver said he enjoyed the wide spectrum of students that join the Infinity Squad, and worked to meet every kid where they were.

“Infinity Squad works with kids across a big range,” he said. “As a mentee in the program, you could be accelerated or you could be on the opposite end of the spectrum. We try to work with you to keep your excitement and curiosity of math growing either way.”  

As a volunteer, Oliver gained a number of new skills from scheduling sessions to communicating with other Mentors on his team. One of the most valuable skills he said was learning to adapt.

“Sometimes the way I’d explain didn't click for some students, so then I'd have to pull out different manipulatives, or draw visual problems,” he said. “I did have to change my style a lot of times because what works for me doesn’t work for everyone. I had to adapt.” 

As part of the role as Mentor, Oliver also learned to communicate with parents of the Mentees, to get more input on how their child is engaging with the subject. 

“When parents called to talk, I would just try to listen,” he said. “I'd have to think, ‘Okay, what can I do differently to give their child the most attention?’ I was always willing to try something new.” 

Now in his Freshman year at UCONN, on track as a pre-med major, he says he still keeps in touch with people he met through Infinity Squad. 

“I feel like it's a community, just a bunch of friends helping out,” he said. “It’s fun working with the kids. Seeing them grow, seeing them become more adept at mathematics, seeing them grow as people. It is really satisfying.” 

This year, Oliver was selected to be one of a handful of college students offered the opportunity to travel to Cuzco, Peru with Medlife. There he will shadow the doctors in the area and work with children to teach them about health. He says he looks forward to bringing what he learned working with kids through the Infinity Squad to his volunteer experience in Peru. 

“Volunteering as a mentor for Infinity Squad definitely helped me out,” he said. “It's given me the skills to teach children, especially young children, and it’s made me slightly more patient and able to adapt.”