When Sean Marshall walked into his first after-school tutoring session two years ago, the Woodlawn High School sophomore was a bundle of nerves. The three students waiting for him needed help with algebra I and geometry.

Turns out, he had nothing to worry about.

“Let’s just say, I absolutely loved it,” said Marshall, now a graduating senior. “They had said, in the end, that I really helped them understand math, and their grade(s) had actually went up.”

Marshall, 17, went on to help Woodlawn launch an in-school tutoring program, designed and taught an SAT-prep class, and secured a $30,000 grant to keep school tutoring going strong after he moves on to Coppin State University in the fall.

“It’s really important to me that not just I succeed, but also all those around me do,” Marshall said.

He’s set to walk across the commencement stage on Friday with his Woodlawn peers, more of whom are graduating each year. That’s thanks, in part, to Marshall’s efforts, said Principal Jamel Jernigan.

“Our progress is real, our standards are high, our students are engaged and they’re making all sorts of incredible achievements,” said Jernigan.

Woodlawn’s four-year graduation rate has risen from 77.2% in 2022 to 83.2% in 2024, the latest data available. (The graduation rate for the class of 2025 will be calculated next year.)

Jernigan takes a lot of pride in the improved graduation rate. Many families of Woodlawn students are transient. It has a 40% to 50% mobility rate, she said, which means nearly half the students are transferring in and out each year. It can put them behind academically, but the interventions Woodlawn has put in place, like the tutoring programs, are making a difference, she said.

Ralph Taylor sought his friend Marshall’s help when he was struggling with AP calculus this school year. The junior called Marshall “the smartest guy I’ve known.”

Marshall would sometimes take half an hour or 45 minutes to walk through a complicated problem, said Taylor.

The friendship made the tutoring comfortable and effective, he said. Taylor’s grades went from Cs to Bs in calculus. At one point, he even held an A.

Students viewed Marshall in a more mature light, according to the tutor, earning him the nickname “Uncle.” Marshall said it’s “a little daunting” to be relied on because he doesn’t want to tell anyone the wrong thing.

He tries his best to be prepared beforehand — juggling tutoring, orchestra and his own studies — and he’s honest about what he does and doesn’t know.

Marshall tutored students in math, a subject kids at Woodlawn and across the state and country struggle with. Just under a quarter of Maryland students were proficient in math on the state tests last year. Fewer than 5% of Woodlawn students passed.

This school year, Marshall was recruited to help run a new school-day tutoring program at Woodlawn, putting his passion for math to use. It’s a paid position through Apprenticeship Maryland, a state program that allows students to enter the workforce while in school.

Kimberly Simms, a career navigator who oversees school-day tutoring, said Marshall helped choose the materials they’d use and strategize about how they’d get students to participate. They decided to embed the tutors inside the classroom while class is happening. Next year, they’ll consider tutoring by appointment.

Simms noticed that students were at first taken aback that another kid was working as their teacher, but Marshall’s consistency, depth of knowledge and desire to help, “earned their respect. They also called him Dr. Marshall,” said Simms.

To keep the program going, Marshall helped secure a $30,000 grant through the Baltimore Community Foundation to pay for more apprentices.

Marshall added to his plate in January by starting to teach an after-school SAT-prep course he designed. He created lesson plans and even rehearsed what he would teach. Students were assigned homework, and Marshall would hold them accountable if they didn’t do it.

“We got to listen up, can’t play around,” the student-teacher would say to them. “We only have two hours to get through this material.”

Marshall said tutoring has brought him so much joy, especially when he sees students better understand math.

“They hate math, but to [see them] walk away and say ‘I hate it a little bit less’ is really, really powerful,” he said.

Although his career goal is to defend the digital world through cybersecurity, Marshall also wants to teach his passion subjects — STEM and music. It would be even better, he said, if he could teach them at Woodlawn.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.