Two GEA engineers team up to help high school senior realize dream

Virtual tutoring sessions between engineers and Doss senior are teaching more than just math.

It's seven o'clock on a Thursday night.

Doss High School senior Ghadi Nshimiyimana logs on to his computer and opens Skype. Through video chat, two GE Appliances engineers greet him on the other end and for the next half hour they tutor Ghadi in math, helping him work through a series of complex problems often found on the ACT exam.

"I like math and I think I'm good. But my English is not the best and all of the questions—most of them—are word problems," Ghadi said. "It's not easy for someone like me who is studying English as a Second Language."

Originally from Rwanda, Ghadi came to Louisville with his family in 2016. Moving to a new country can be tough. But Ghadi is smart and a hard worker in every sense of the word. "I don't give up. I always try and try," he said.

In fact, before everyday life seemingly stopped and shifted course, Ghadi balanced his weekly schedule by attending classes at Doss High through the Academies of Louisville and spending time at Appliance Park, getting hands-on manufacturing experience working two days each week on the assembly line as a GEA2Day co-op.

"I've been able to do so many different things since coming to this place," he said. "In Rwanda, we don't have the opportunity like this country."

Now nearing the end of his senior year, Ghadi is focused on two big goals: graduating high school and getting into college, where he plans on earning a degree in mechanical engineering. He dreams of being accepted into the Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville.

That's a dream Stephanos Kyriacou, GEA Director of Engineering for Refrigeration Advanced Systems, wants Ghadi to realize. As soon as he learned Ghadi was looking for some help in math, he offered to tutor him.

"I've been an immigrant myself, so I can relate to Ghadi from a lot of different angles through his journey to make it into this country," said Stephanos, who was born in Cyprus and has been with GEA for 15 years.

Having obtained his master's degree in mechanical engineering from Rutgers University in 1989, Stephanos wanted to pull in a recent college graduate as a partner in the tutoring effort. He enlisted the help of GEA Edison Engineering Development Program design engineer Tanner Gunn, a 2018 Virginia Tech grad who was quick to volunteer.

"I remember when I was first going into engineering school—it's a bit daunting," Tanner said. "To have someone who is a little further along and has maybe gone through what you've gone through, I think it's an encouragement to Ghadi for sure."

Twice a week, Stephanos and Tanner lead tutoring sessions with Ghadi. The sessions are scheduled for 30 minutes, but oftentimes they last much longer. And in the spirit of social distancing, they meet via videoconference from their homes. "It means so much. They use their time to explain to me. Even though they are engineers and have to be doing their own work during this time, they're teaching me," Ghadi said.

The plan is to have Ghadi prepared to take the ACT this summer.

And during a time of so much uncertainty, the lessons taken away from this new, unique collaboration extend far beyond math.

"I really do believe that building a good product is a way to serve people, but there's something really unique and satisfying about getting to serve someone directly and give back," Tanner said. "It's important for all of us to take what we've been given and also what we've learned to pass along and share it. For me, it's definitely one of the highlights of the last two weeks – just getting to spend some time pouring into him and helping him hopefully crush this ACT and become an engineer." 

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