When Siah Gaye, senior business entrepreneurship major, started tutoring teens in math and science, he soon found it was not enough. He decided then to start a club to encourage younger kids to study, work hard and go on to college. To him, it was a no-brainer.

The No Brainer Foundation was formed at Sacramento State in spring 2010 by Gaye and is advised by Pia Wong, a bilingual multicultural education professor. The club’s website, www.nobrainerfoundation.org, describes the club as a network of college students who are dedicated to “empowering the youth and themselves through tutoring, mentoring, events, activities, and scholarships.”

“I started out helping individual students in the community,” Gaye said. “I figured if I could get more students involved and behind me and get legitimized, we could become not only more recognized, but also reach out to more people and students and set an example for more students to become college students.”

 The group has visited schools throughout the Sacramento area, held workshops and offered mentoring for students in need. The group is also active with college students, with whom they train as mentors and help understand job interview practices. Gaye recalled a time when the group set up a mock interview workshop at the Golden 1 Credit Union. By the end, the workshop had turned into something far more interesting.

 “Only a few of us showed up,” Gaye said. “So they decided to make it a group interview and resume session. They lined us up at one end of the table and threw question after question after question at us. At the end, they were so impressed with the group they offered all of us positions.”

 The group’s next endeavor is to man a booth in during the first week of school and also to hold a social to greet new and prospective members.

For more information, visit

www.nobrainerfoundation.org.

Maxwell McKee can be reached at [email protected].