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When 826LA development manager Alma Carillo finished a recent tutoring session with an LA Unified student, she was met with an unexpected surprise.

“I remember after we bound his book and handed it to him, he stared at it, and then he looked up at me, and then he stared back and was like, ‘I wrote this?’ and I was like, “Ya! You’re a published author!” and he was like, ‘I didn’t know we were gonna do this today; this is really cool!,’ said Carillo.   

This approach of publishing student work is at the core of 826LA, a nonprofit tutoring organization helping students develop their expository and creative writing skills. By promoting more hands-on activities, such as hosting readings of student work, the program distinguishes itself from monotonous tasks which often make up the core of most students’ tutoring experiences.  

“It’s fun to see the journey each student goes through,” said Carillo. “They come in really reluctant and don’t look forward to being here…but seeing his face light up after he received his book encompasses the work that we do here and why we do it.”

826LA is housed in “The Time Travel Mart,” a quirky storefront and tourist attraction located in Echo Park and Mar Vista. The shop sells everything from imitation dinosaur eggs to faux astronaut sunscreen, with products all following a theme of time travel. Published student writing is also sold in the storefront.

The program partners with over 100 schools and has four writers’ rooms in Los Angeles high schools, including Roosevelt high school, Venice high School, Manuel Arts High School, and Helen Bernstein High School. 

826LA consistently tries to keep learning fun for students through unconventional methods. When schools host field trips at the Time Travel Mart, volunteers are known to dress up as quirky characters or perform skits while students do writing workshops. For afterschool participants, students build their own chapbooks, where they craft stories prompted by specific questions such as, “Who inspires you?” 

Program Coordinator Pedro Estrada believes the mini novels are a stepping stone for students to build an interest in writing. 

“I think it’s important, especially to season them as writers and realize they can also write free pieces and maybe either encourage them to go into writing,” Estrada said. “Maybe not as a novelist, but maybe just think of writing as a choice, not just as something you’re forced to do; you can be creative and enjoy it.”

Adan Hernandez, a 10th-grade 826LA student who, along with his two siblings, has received tutoring at the storefront for eight years recalled how emotional end-of-year book readings hosted at the Time Travel Mart could become. 

“I remember my older sister one time read a really powerful piece for my mom, and she started crying,” Hernandez said. 

Hernandez believes seeing his writing published is one of his favorite parts of the chapbook process. 

“It makes me feel good, it’s nice seeing your work in a book.… Especially in the beginning, the first few pages, you always see your name there with the list of all the names, and your page your story is on, and the title and everything,” said Hernandez. 

826LA champions the idea of being a third space for students to get work done outside of class. 

“I think it helps students get out of their heads, get out of their regular routines, and have a space where they can interact with people they don’t always see. It also helps with the whole writing process and the creativity behind it,” said Estrada. 

11th-grade student Hailey Caldera, who has been tutored in math at 826LA, believes the environment the volunteers create has helped her get her work done. 

“There’s a bond that these tutors have, and I feel like the tutors try to make it fun, which is really great. A lot of kids separate and don’t want to learn because they don’t think that learning is fun, but here, learning IS actually fun,” said Caldera. 

By having the volunteers consistently embrace new activities, 826LA’s out of the box learning framework helps keep students build more receptiveness with tutors. According to Carrilo, the core of light hearted learning fuels the creative process for students at 826LA. 

“I think that when they’re in school every single day, they kind of start struggling to find the spark when it comes to writing,” said Carillo. “and I think being in spaces like this helps encourage that.”