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2004-2005: Birth of BUCS and the Exam-AID initiative
That first year, we offered two first year Economics courses, and volunteer tutors taught groups of 2-5 students the material covered on their upcoming exam. In that first year, we tutored over 200 students, and we raised a total of $5,500 dollars for charity (charging a $15 dollar donation to attend). 2005 - 2006: Explosive Growth of Exam-AIDs In our second year, we offered 3 more first year courses (business and calculus), and with a total of over 25 volunteer tutors, and over 100 members of the BUCS association, we were able to tutor over 600 different students and raise over $31,000. This money went towards helping children in Kenya gain access to education through our donation to Free The Children. Our results caught the attention of the Waterloo Record, who wrote the first article about the Exam-AID program. 2006 - 2007: Birth of SOS and the annual volunteer outreach trip In the 2006-2007 year, it was apparent that the Exam-AID initiative was growing too big for the BUCS, and subsequently, SOS: Students Offering Support was born. Keeping the same model and tutor base, SOS was able to offer the same five first year courses, as well as an additional four second year business courses. With a more formal structure, a dedicated website and online registration system, SOS exceeded all our expectations. With roughly 25 dedicated tutors, course coordinators, and executives, SOS was able to help over 1,110 different first and second year students, and raise $65,000. These results attracted the attention of the Waterloo Record once again for a second article.  In 2007, we saw the integration of the last piece of the model; SOS's 360 degrees of volunteerism. In August of 2007, SOS volunteers not only funded an educational development project, but 20 students helped to build it on the first annual volunteer outreach trip to San Ignacio, Belize. With the help of a local NGO, ProWorld, Laurier's team chose a small village called Calla Creek and used the money raised to upgrade their run-down elementary school. We provided a sustainable face-lift to the school which is attended by 100 boys and girls. 2007 - 2008: The national association is started with SOS's second chapter (Trent SOS)With three years of growth, and having raised over $100,000 at Laurier, a second university, Trent University, tested the SOS model.With great success (400 students tutored and over $8,700 raised) it was confirmed that the model was applicable to other universities and the national association was created. The business plan was developed and it quickly generated support from the business community after its success in 4 national business plan competitions, generating over $15,000 in initial funding for the national expansion. Laurier SOS continued to succeed, tutoring over 1000 students, raising over $35,000. This year, both Trent and Laurier worked with the NGO Friend of Honduran Children and ran trips in February (Trent) and August (Laurier) to provide infrastructural support to the Flor Azul orphan farm school (chicken coup, classroom, library, solar energy, water distribution system).    2008 - 2009: Students Offering Support expands to chapters on 11 universities September 2008 saw the SOS model launch 11 chapters in universities in Ontario and Quebec as well as the pilot of our High School SOS chapter in the Waterloo Region. We also ran an official launch and the first annual SOS conference was held in July to prepare the 10 executive teams for their year ahead. From the 300+ student volunteers that worked through the chapters listed below, they raised over $100,000 for four projects in Costa Rica, Peru, El Salvador, and Honduras.
2009 - 2010: SOS continues to grow!After a great first year of national expansion, SOS continues to grow, expanding to 4 more University chapters and 2 more High School Regions. With over 450 volunteers, we are working to raise $200,000 across the various university chapters. See below for the new chapters for 2009-2010:
As student volunteers work through these chapters to raise marks, money, and roofs, Students Offering Support is looking to provide the same opportunity of starting their own chapter to students at other Canadian universities. If interested in finding out more, click here. |
SOS dates back to September 2004, when the BUCS Association (Business and Computing Students) was formed by Greg Overholt at Wilfrid Laurier University. This association was initially designed for those in the double degree program. After realizing the academic ability of its members, we thought tutoring other students as a charitable initiative may be an effective way to give back. That was the birth of the Exam-AID program.
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