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Bayside 17-year-old honored with Senate
proclamation for virtual tutoring nonprofi t
BY JENNA BAGCAL
A Bayside teen was recently
honored for creating a
nonprofit that helps fellow students
who switched to remote
learning during the pandemic.
On Thursday, Aug. 19,
Senator John Liu presented a
New York State Senate proclamation
for exemplary service
to the Bayside community to
17-year-old high schooler Tae
Kyu Lee, who formed Pass the
Torch back in 2020.
As of July 2021, the organization
has provided free, virtual,
one-on-one tutoring to students
through 3,000 academic
and extracurricular lessons.
The idea for Pass the
Torch was born out of Lee’s
personal philosophy of valuing
diversity and different
perspectives. The then-sophomore
at Horace Mann High
School had been interested
in learning about educational
inequality, which became
more pronounced when
schools were forced to offer
remote learning, resulting
in his some of his classmates
struggling to keep up with
this sudden shift.
As of 2021, studies showed
that up to 12 million K-12 students
in the U.S. still lack the
proper broadband access and
other technology needed for
successful remote learning.
Lee started meeting with
Senator John Liu and Tae Kyu Lee Photo courtesy of Senator Liu’s offi ce
students after school and providing
them with assistance
in core subjects like math,
English, science and history
as well as extracurriculars
like debate, public speaking,
visual arts and chess.
Over the past year, Pass
the Torch has expanded to
include over 80 high school,
undergraduate and graduate
school volunteers from different
backgrounds. With their
guidance, the organization
has taught students locally in
the United States and internationally
in countries like
South Korea, Uzbekistan and
Ukraine.
Pass the Torch offers several
initiatives at the high school
level, including free SAT and
ACT tutoring thanks to money
from the Alexander Capelluto
Award, which Lee applied for
at his school. The funds allow
Pass the Torch to provide students
with private lessons, test
prep books, mock tests and
other guidance.
Through the nonprofit, Lee
also developed a public policy
essay contest for high schoolers,
which allows students to
identify prevalent community
issues and propose policy solutions
to address them. The
contest is judged by a panel of
professionals in the area of social
policy and policymaking,
including a former UN officer
and a policy analyst from the
San Jose City Council.
Reach reporter Jenna Bagcal
by e-mail at jbagcal@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260-2583.
Vol. 87 No. 36 36 total pages
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