When Service Becomes a Calling

By Eric Steckel | March 24, 2026

A few hours a week as a tutor became something deeper—and led Julie Wu to a classroom of her own.

“Having one person that they can trust… is huge,” Wu said of the one-on-one relationships that help students risk, practice, and grow.

Julie Wu didn’t set out to become a teacher. After years of working in the business finance world, she stepped away and became deeply involved in her children’s schools. When they moved into middle school, she began asking a new question: What’s next?

“Living here in the Bay Area, there’s a lot of inequality—and a lot of students don’t get the kind of consistent support that helps them build skills and confidence.”

Wu wanted to offer her “time, talent, and attention” where it could matter.

“A lot of students don’t get the kind of consistent support that helps them build skills and confidence.”

After joining Piedmont Community Church in 2018, she began to feel a gentle, persistent nudge—an invitation to bring her time and attention to children who rarely receive enough of either. At PCC, Children Rising shared an opportunity to serve: volunteer tutoring in Oakland public schools.

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For Julie, it felt like a door opening. “Just a couple hours a week in the afternoon—I could do that.” Children Rising matched her with a student, provided the structure and materials, and Wu began tutoring week after week.

“I started tutoring with low expectations, and it turned into a passion for serving kids with special needs in low-income areas.”

Julie Wu, a former Children Rising tutor in Oakland, now teaches special education at Franklin Elementary. You make this circle of care possible—volunteers, schools, and families working together for Oakland kids.

Near the end of that first year, as she questioned the impact she’d made, one quiet student handed her a card. The message was simple: “Thank you for coming here every week.” Wu had been searching for proof—data, outcomes, a clear measurement. Instead, she heard something more human: your presence matters.

What began as a practical commitment kept drawing her deeper. She considered pursuing private literacy instruction focused on dyslexia and the science of reading, but she couldn’t shake the pull toward children who wouldn’t have access to that kind of support. So she chose the road guided by conviction, not convenience: Oakland public schools.

Julie completed a teacher residency and now teaches special education at Franklin Elementary School. “I feel like I’m supposed to be at Franklin,” she said. “I feel like I have a mission here.”

“I feel like I have a mission here. I started tutoring with low expectations, and it turned into a passion for serving kids with special needs in low-income areas.”

At Franklin, Wu works in small groups and coordinated support systems designed to help students build skills and confidence over time. “Having one person that they can trust and be vulnerable with their insecurities…is huge,” she said—one part of the larger, collective work that schools, families, and partners do to support students who need it most.

Julie’s story echoes a shared theme: a simple yes—and the decision to keep showing up.

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