Hurricane Sandy left much destruction in its wake, galvanizing emergency services and volunteers to aid those severely affected by the disaster. Most emergency services have focused on life-saving issues such as lack of shelter, food, and heat -- and with good reason.
Unfortunately, lost in the struggle have been thousands of students, their educations interrupted by the destruction of their schools and the overall lack of resources. Noodle Education, an education technology start-up based in New York City, refused to allow the academic success of these students to be ravaged by the storm.
Noodle.org is one of the first cradle-to-career education search engines, matching students from pre-K to the graduate level with such services as education programs, tutors, and internship opportunities. This ed-tech start-up has joined the relief effort facilitating emergency education services in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area.
The need for education assistance since Sandy is great. In New York City alone, 48 schools were too damaged to open after the storm, 19 were left without power, and many that have reopened are without heat. The destruction has taken its toll causing students to lose valuable time in the middle of the school year. As the college application process is currently underway in this country many futures hang in the balance.
Noodle is connecting volunteer teachers, tutors, guidance counselors, test-prep courses and donated teaching facilities to students left without essential education resources. The effort has provided some level of normalcy for thousands of students during a tumultuous time. Right now Noodle's Emergency Education Clearinghouse is hard at work collecting names of students in affected areas and matching them with volunteer education providers.
Noodle aims to keep this initiative going as long as they can continue supplying the demand. The company will waive all fees associated with this process and seeks corporate support from traditional school suppliers.
Time is of the essence. Noodle is requesting volunteers to step up to the plate and assist them in their efforts. Richard Katzman, executive director of Learning Content at Noodle is calling on "volunteers to donate their time and effort to help keep students affected by Sandy on track to graduate and pass state-mandated exams." Katzman added that "this is a unique opportunity for people across the country to aid in the recovery."