91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Watch CBS News
Your Reporter

High school students in Aurora recognized for helping younger students

By
Michael Abeyta
Michael Abeyta
Multimedia Journalist
Your Reporter Michael Abeyta specializes in coverage of the Colorado city of Aurora. Share you story ideas with him by sending an email to yourreporter@cbs.com.
Read Full Bio
Michael Abeyta

/ CBS Colorado

The Aurora City Council no longer reads proclamations in order to make more time for public comment, except on Monday, April 6, because they appreciate what some Aurora teens are doing on their time off.

High school senior Sumaya Ibrahim is one of those teens. She was at school on a Saturday morning, helping other students.

"It's kind of hard sometimes to just get up in the morning and come to school on a Saturday, but then I remember all the lives that are being impacted," said Ibrahim.

She's spending her morning at The Lotus School tutoring other students because, when she was younger, she wished she had someone like her.

"I wish when I was in middle school I would have someone to help me, because back then I wouldn't really think of it as help," said Ibrahim.

It's a similar story for Junior Kamal Khalif.

"When I was younger, I got a lot of support from my upperclassmen. I just want to give that back," said Khalif.

They are part of a program at The Lotus School in Aurora designed to help students who are falling behind in class to catch up academically. They say students learn differently from them than they do from their teachers.

aurora-student-tutors-5pkg-frame-425.jpg
CBS

"Working with underclassmen, you get to talk about stuff that they can't talk about with teachers," said Khalif.

They tutor not only on Saturdays but also on weekdays after school and during school hours. All in all, they and 18 of their peers have logged nearly 1,500 hours of tutoring. They say it makes a difference.

The Lotus School says students have improved their math skills by one to two grade levels in one school year.  

"There's just one girl I've been helping out in seventh grade. In the beginning, she did not know how to multiply at all. But now she's able to do hard multiplication, multiplied with decimals, integers, division and long division," said Ibrahim.

Their work got the attention of Aurora city leaders. On Monday, the city council will read a proclamation to honor them. Sumaya and Kamal say they are proud of themselves and their peers.

"It makes me feel so happy that I'm getting recognized for all my hard work," said Ibrahim.

"I think this is an experience. I've never had something like this. So I will enjoy it," said Khalif.

© 2026 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
const link = doc.createElement('link'); link.rel = 'stylesheet'; link.href = '/fly/fly/bundles/cbsnewscontent/css/cmp-banner.min.css?v=296763317a51cab90faa73f1bb146d5c'; doc.head.appendChild(link); doc.body.innerHTML = CONSENT_MESSAGE; } else { el.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', CONSENT_MESSAGE); } }); } function hidePrivacyMessage() { // Remove from the main document document.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); // Remove from inside any iframes document.querySelectorAll('iframe').forEach(iframe => { const doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document; doc.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); }); } function activateGatedScripts() { // Handle both new format (cmp-gated-script) and old OneTrust/Ketch format (optanon-category-4) const gatedScripts = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('script.cmp-gated-script, script.optanon-category-4')); // Activate scripts sequentially with a small delay to avoid timing issues let delay = 0; gatedScripts.forEach(function(placeholder, index) { setTimeout(function() { // Skip if already processed if (placeholder.hasAttribute('data-cmp-processed')) { return; } placeholder.setAttribute('data-cmp-processed', 'true'); const newScript = document.createElement('script'); newScript.type = 'text/javascript'; // Try new format first (data-cmp-src), then fall back to old format (data-src) const src = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-src') || placeholder.getAttribute('data-src'); if (src) { newScript.src = src; } else if (placeholder.textContent) { // Inline script - just copy the content newScript.textContent = placeholder.textContent; } // Handle new format attributes (data-cmp-attrs) - for both inline and external scripts const attrs = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-attrs'); if (attrs) { const tempDiv = document.createElement('div'); tempDiv.innerHTML = '
<\/div>'; const tempAttrs = tempDiv.firstChild.attributes; for (let i = 0; i < tempAttrs.length; i++) { // For external scripts, allow defer/async. For inline scripts, skip them (not valid) if (src || (tempAttrs[i].name !== 'async' && tempAttrs[i].name !== 'defer')) { newScript.setAttribute(tempAttrs[i].name, tempAttrs[i].value); } } } // Copy other attributes from old OneTrust format for (let i = 0; i < placeholder.attributes.length; i++) { const attr = placeholder.attributes[i]; // Skip attributes we've already handled or don't want to copy if (!['class', 'data-src', 'data-type', 'data-cmp-src', 'data-cmp-attrs', 'data-cmp-processed', 'type', 'async', 'defer', 'src'].includes(attr.name)) { newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value); } } placeholder.parentNode.replaceChild(newScript, placeholder); // If external script, manually trigger window.onload handlers after it loads // This handles widgets that use window.onload for initialization if (src) { newScript.addEventListener('load', function() { // If page already loaded and script set a new onload handler, trigger it if (document.readyState === 'complete' && window.onload) { const originalOnload = window.onload; window.onload = null; // Clear temporarily to prevent loops originalOnload(); // Execute the handler } }); } }, delay); delay += 500; // 500ms delay between each script to allow full loading }); } cbsoptanon.onScriptsReady(function(cmp) { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (!allowed) { showPrivacyMessage(); } else { activateGatedScripts(); } }); cmp.ot.awaitInitialConsent(function(consent_model) { cmp.ot.addOnConsentChangedHandler(function() { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (allowed) { hidePrivacyMessage(); activateGatedScripts(); } else { showPrivacyMessage(); } }); }); }); });