There’s something about the University of Michigan that inspires the best in its students. Just ask Ross Chanowksi, a Public Policy junior who has been working on creating a campus group to help high school students in Detroit since his freshman year.

Chanowski’s organization, Letters to Success, matches University students with high school students in the Detroit-metro area for eight-week ACT tutoring sessions. The program is endorsed by the University’s School of Education and is now wrapping up its first full semester of operation.

The project is currently serving some juniors at Willow Run High School in Ypsilanti.

Chanowski got the idea to start the program while he worked with a student in Detroit as part of a class he took his freshman year.

“I thought, wow, this kid is really intelligent,” Chanowski said. “But, he had no grammatical structure and would have gotten a zero on the essay test of the ACT and he really didn’t have any method of learning basic math that you needed to get into college and do well on the ACT.”

Because of the success University students have had in the college process and their previous success on standardized tests, Chanowski said he believed that University students could give back by helping disadvantaged youth do just as well in their application processes.

Letters to Success is different from many of the other student organizations on campus. Chanowski said there won’t be a table for the group at this year’s Festifall and donors to the program privately fund the group. Typically, the cost for a student to take a prep course or hire a tutor to study for the ACT is around $2,000. But Chanowski said his group is tutoring 40 students for a total of $4,000.

There is also an application process for prospective tutors.

“I think what makes us really unique is that we are in no way a résumé padder,” Chanowski said. “We screen students in the beginning, there’s an application process. We don’t want anyone who’s coming here just to put that they helped disadvantaged kids or helped minorities in getting into college, we want kids who actually want to see social justice, who want to see change before their eyes and that’s why I think we’re so successful.”

Chanowski said another factor that makes the group different from others on campus is its partnership with the School of Education. Chanowski worked with School of Education Dean Deborah Ball and Assistant Dean Henry Meares to create the program.

Students in the course Education 118 can also participate in the organization and earn extra credit in the class for their contribution. Every student is also given an application to join the group as part of the course materials.

In the future, Letters to Success may be a required class component.

“We’re providing an opportunity that’s really a win-win because the undergraduates are getting a really direct experience with what it looks like to try to help somebody else learn, which is the kind of thing I want the students to be learning,” Ball said. “At the same time, they are doing something that’s really useful for the high school students who wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to get that kind of preparation for college exams.”

In order to qualify for free ACT tutoring, Willow Run High School students only need junior standing and a commitment that they will attend every weekly tutoring session. Additionally, if they show a certain amount of improvement over the course their tutoring, the ACT registration fee will be paid for.

“These are students who don’t have access to any of the things that a lot of Michigan undergrads do have access to when they are taking the SAT or ACT,” Ball said.