Endowment Strives to Continue Son's Passion for Making Learning Fun

As a boy, Gregory Delos had a knack for making learning fun. For example, he created a serialized story to learn his vocabulary words, adding sentences each week that incorporated the assigned words.

While attending Washington University in St. Louis as a physics major, he brought this same knack for fun to his role as an after-school tutor for the Gateway Region YMCA. Through the Washington University Campus Y, he dedicated weekday afternoons and Saturdays to working with middle school students and to inventing creative ways to teach the subjects they were struggling with.

“Having a mentor can make such a difference, especially at that age,” says Sue Delos, Gregory’s mother. And the benefit goes both ways: “For the college students, it’s a wonderful experience to get away from campus and be with young people from different backgrounds,” adds John Delos, Gregory’s father.

In 2019, the Deloses created the Gregory Delos Y Tutor Program endowment to continue the impact of the after-school program and to honor the memory of their son, who passed in 1988 when he was a junior at Washington University.

Today, the program supports 230 middle school students five days a week, providing interventional tutoring, homework assistance and enrichment learning.

As Sue notes, many people don’t know they can earmark donations for specific causes. Continues John, “Giving to the Y is a wonderful thing. We hope our donation inspires other people to come forward.”

Contribute to What You Care About

To learn more about creating your own endowment, or to contribute to the Gregory Delos Y Tutor Program, contact Wendy Cornett-Marquitz, CFRE at 314 436 1177 ext. 21640, or wendy.cornett-marquitz@gwrymca.org.