Teresa Abbey

Teresa Abbey provides supplemental tutoring for disadvantaged middle school students in a safe environment. Each week for the past two years, Abbey has tutored middle school students in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago as a part of an after-school program sponsored by Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development (BUILD).

BUILD engages over 3,500 at-risk youth annually in schools and on the streets, so they can realize their educational and career potential. Through the Build tutoring program, Abbey has helped youth increase math grades and enabled the after-school program to expand its services to help more than 25 youth per day. She has also created a book of photography of as a fundraiser in an effort to raise money for the program. Abbey began her service with Build as a way of helping youth perform better in her middle school math class. Now, she has added a fundraising component for the after-school program.

Abbey has always shown a consistent interest in service, including leading a Girl Scout vitamin drive and holding a cupcake sale at an neighborhood garage sale benefiting an orphanage, tutoring young children in grammar school, cleaning-up at the site of the Joplin tornado, volunteering at a nursing homes, children’s hospitals, and homeless shelters. In addition, she serves as the vice president of the China Care club at school, which raises money for needed surgeries for Chinese orphans.