This fall math teacher Rayne Young became Tyrone High School’s new AmeriCorps volunteer in the math department. Young is helping students in their math classes throughout the school year through one on one tutoring and assisting with classroom teaching.

Many Tyrone students are already familiar with Young, because she did her student teaching last year at Tyrone in Mrs. Michele Marasco’s classroom.

Young, who is from Altoona, is a recent Juniata College graduate.  She also served as a substitute teacher at the high school in the spring following her graduation.

“I’m so happy to be back at Tyrone this year,” said Young, “The staff and students all make me feel so welcome here, so the first few weeks of school have been great.”

Young is a paid volunteer for AmeriCorps, which is a national service program dedicated to addressing community needs. They provide opportunities for teachers in the program to gain experience while  helping to increase academic achievement in school districts across the country.

The funding for her stipend comes jointly from the Intermediate Unit 8 and the Tyrone Area School District.

“I love math and always excelled in my high school math classes,”  Young said, “After tutoring students in college in both math and French, I discovered that I loved explaining things I understood and being able to break complex problems down for others to understand better.”

To Young, the best part of her job is working with students and helping them to succeed.

“[It] is why I love teaching so much.  I like being able to break things down when students don’t understand, and I like interacting and building a positive rapport with students,” said Young.

And it seems that the students like her just as much.

“Having Ms. Young in my math class has been such an advantage for my peers and me. She’s always there to lend a helping hand and cares about the students in her classroom,” said junior Sara Herr.

Young works closely with Tyrone math department teacher Tiffany Smith, helping her students with algebra, calculus and statistics.

“Miss Young  is such an asset to the students,” said Smith, “She has such a great rapport with the students and they can come get help whenever needed throughout the day. It is also amazing having her in the Algebra classroom as an extra helping hand for the students that may be struggling. She is great at what she does and it certainly shows.”

In her free time Young likes to read, listen to music and podcasts, travel, and learn French.