Waverly Library Tutoring Group Helps Vocalist to Berklee

Robert Pate, 17, said he always had a passion for teaching and music.

This fall, the Waverly resident is getting an opportunity to pursue those passions at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

“Maybe I should put music and education together and teach children and give them the opportunity to learn music like I did,” Pate said.

On Saturday, Pate, a tenor who can sing classical, opera and jazz, received a $1,000 scholarship from the tutoring program at the Waverly branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library System.  It was just the latest boost Pate has received from the four-year-old program.

Pate, who graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts in the spring, attended tutoring sessions three times a week for four years and received help from tutors on subjects ranging from science to Spanish.

“I had tutors that would help me, that were patient with me. They would come extra days if they needed to if I needed help,” Pate said.

Melinda Smith, director of tutorial program and president of the Friends of the Waverly Library, said the tutorial program has gone a step further and helped to raise money to pay for Pate’s tuition.

When the tutoring program at the library started, it had seven tutors and 19 sessions a week. It has since expanded to 19 tutors with 45 sessions a week.

“Our goal is to make all these kids see college as a viable option,” Smith said.

Ewayae Pate, Robert Pate’s father, said it wasn’t immediately obvious that his son was a gifted vocalist.

“It caught us by surprise,” Ewayae Pate said. “He was on the track team and he’d always want to jump in the middle and sing something. But you know we’d just look at him and say, ‘Oh that’s cute.’”

Seeing his son go off to college is a bittersweet experience. He said he was sad to see his son go but understands that he has to go to college.

“We went to Berklee on Tuesday and by Thursday I was a puddle of water,” Ewayae Pate said.