Elie Bilmes came to Cornell University as a freshman with aspirations of working in politics. Before he had completed his first year, however, an experience would radically change both his career trajectory and his life’s work. Elie became a research assistant for Professor Mary Katzenstein, a role that led him to volunteer with CPEP as a teaching assistant for a criminal procedural law class at Cayuga Correctional Facility.
Working with CPEP students was transformative. The more Elie listened to and engaged with them, the more interested he became in ways to interrupt the “pipeline to incarceration.” Initially, the experience pushed him toward pursuing a law degree with the goal of becoming a public defender. But as his work with CPEP continued, it became clear to him that his greatest impact could come earlier—by helping young people avoid entering the system in the first place. He went on to become a high school history teacher in St. Louis.
Since then, Elie has held a range of roles in education, including training teachers who work with incarcerated teens and students from low-income communities. Today, he continues to “walk the walk” in his role as Chief Program Officer of GO Tutor Corps, an organization that provides high-dosage tutoring in math and English to low-income students in cities across the Northeast.
“Getting individualized tutoring is really a key asset for these students,” Elie says. “It was something I noticed when working at Cayuga Correctional Facility—that this was the first time many of these men had ever received one-on-one help. It stuck with me.”