A recent Gallup poll reported record low rates of satisfaction with K-12 education in the United States, but with an interesting side note that rates of satisfaction with public education, historically, have always been low ["K-12 Education Satisfaction in U.S. Ties Record Low" Brenan, 2023]. Why are people so unsatisfied with public schools? I believe this is the result of an impersonal education, the antithesis of what my company and I aim to provide through our tutoring and enrichment programs.

Hi, I'm Jake Van Loon, biomedical scientist, educator, and founder of Empowerment Tutoring.

I founded Empowerment Tutoring in 2019 with a mission to inspire students to grow into engaged, lifelong learners through exemplary mentorship. I wanted to address the learning gaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. My shift from lab work to education was driven by a profound belief in the transformative power of learning. I could see that the education system was ill-prepared for the catastrophic immediacy of kids not being allowed in school; they have difficulty enough paying attention through eight hours of an in-person school day. There was a snowball’s chance they were going to be able to maintain that attention while continuously plugged in to the internet.

Raised in Oakland County, I’m not unfamiliar with the pains of academic struggle -- during high school I quite nearly flunked out due to my cynical attitude and outlook, compounded by poor choices. I ended up graduating by the skin of my teeth in 2011 and bounced from kitchen to kitchen, working endlessly and never getting ahead of my meager debts. It was during this period that I realized that nothing was going to change if I stayed the course, so I took inventory of what really mattered. I enrolled in a nursing program at Oakland Community College, but quickly found that I had a keen interest in and knack for organic and biochemistry. I began on my path towards becoming a physician to combine the desire to help people and to satiate this newfound hunger for knowledge. I volunteered at the McLaren Oakland hospital and cared for many wonderful people during the worst days and weeks of their lives. During my tenure there, a man was wounded protecting another person during an armed robbery. The lead cardiologist was called down to attempt to save this man’s life. I watched as the team performed an emergency thoracotomy, and the cardiologist massaged the man’s heart to restart the electrical flow at the nodes of the heart in order to prolong this man’s life long enough for further surgical intervention. This experience cemented my resolve to pursue medicine.

Along with my experiences on the emergency room floor, my adolescent misgivings inspired me to take ownership of my education. I had to teach myself how to learn all over again. Authority over my life and a sense of purpose to overcome mediocrity drove me to devour math books after work, day in and day out. Over the course of a summer I had taught myself algebra 1, algebra 2, and pre-calculus. I worked the graveyard shift as a patient sitter at McLaren Macomb, working organic and biochemistry problems on my breaks. I realized that I truly loved learning all along, but the rigid structure and arbitrary rules of the public school system had caused me to equate learning and education with the feeling of being trapped and obligated. 

All of this drive and effort culminated in my 2017 graduation from the Oakland University Biomedical Sciences program with a 3.7 GPA, and a job out of college as a field biologist and materials analyst of biological, chemical, and geologic samples at Absolute Laboratories in Auburn Hills, MI. I found that, with this job, I could help folks from all socioeconomic backgrounds live in environments free of hazardous materials. I found, through extensive shadowing of many doctors and surgeons with many serious misgivings about their profession, that I did not, in fact, wish to become a physician after all. I worked at the laboratory 9-to-5 and taught STEM subjects for extra cash at night for two years until COVID-19 emerged, creating a new paradigm for education, and opening the way for me to share my unyielding love for education with folks all across the country.

So what is the Empowerment Tutoring advantage? Your student gets the level of attention they truly deserve through longitudinal pairing; that is to say that students stick with the same tutor for their entire journey. We also provide flexible, direct, real-time scheduling, personal evaluation, and most importantly, a holistic approach which leverages the student’s unique array of strengths and areas of improvement against feelings of hopelessness and confusion. 

Through our programs, students quickly gain confidence in their own ability to solve any problems that come their way. One of our recent triumphs was helping a Stanford veterinarian to achieve a score of 95% on their last ever medical research statistics final- allowing them to finally reach their dream of becoming a Diplomat of the College of Veterinary Behavior. Another of our incredible students (name omitted for privacy) achieved a 17 point increase in their ACT score and was granted admission to University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Another student came to me unable to perform simple math operations. After two months of twice weekly lessons, the student pictured below had just taught his mother to solve quadratic equations with complex solutions!

The joy that student success brings me is unparalleled in my life and all other professions. I am able to be wholly dedicated to something that creates positive change in the world. The success story above is one of hundreds. Past Empowerment pupils are both Ivy League freshman and graduates, doctors, engineers, and great people. We maintain close ties with our students, because they are not students. They are lifelong friends. 

You don’t have to imagine academic and personal success for your students. You can make the call today. Our experienced, professional educators are waiting to hear from you. Realize your young scholar’s fullest potential while appointments are still available.

Find numerous five-star reviews of my tutoring services at https://tutors.com/mi/southfield/math-tutors/van-loon-multi-subject-tutoring - All from actual clients

“Illeana and Jake both worked with my daughter to help facilitate her growth from a struggling algebra student to a college-bound, proud, and confident young woman. I would hire them again and again.” - R.S. (Troy)

“My son has a learning disability called dyscalculia complicated by deficits in spatial reasoning. He never used to take the time to study independently. Jake’s patient, persistent, and personal approach has worked wonders with my son, and now, my son takes his education seriously and I love that!”  - D.J. (Bloomfield Hills)