Sliding the last few colored squares into place, Ethan Li, sophomore, heard his Rubik’s cube make a slight slick, assuring that he had solved it.
Li first discovered his love for Rubik’s cubes when he visited China as a little kid.
“I didn’t have anything else to do so I learned the first few steps there,” Li said.
After learning to solve the Rubik’s Cube, Li wanted to share his love for them, and started tutoring others when he was in the fifth grade, making him the youngest volunteer at St. Louis Rubik’s Cube club. Li teaches children ages 5 through 11.
“It can be a challenge, especially when there’s around five 8 year olds you’ve stuck together in a room, but it’s still a pretty fun experience,” Li said.
He said you have to figure out what methods to use to teach depending on the student.
“In order for them to actually absorb anything, you need to be very repetitive, but you also want them to stay engaged,” Li said.
He said volunteering with this group has taught him patience that is especially beneficial because he has a younger sister. Even though tutoring can be hard sometimes, Li said he wants to continue.
“I enjoy the people I work with, since we’re all high school students it’s a pretty relaxed environment and a pretty fun experience,” Li said.
Li said he loves working with the other student volunteers, especially his boss Cheng Peng, junior at Parkway South High School.
Peng is a chair on the committee, a leader at Students Leading Economic Opportunity (SLEO) and a volunteer at St. Louis Rubik’s Cube Club (SLRCC) organizations.
SLEO specializes in providing educational resources to underrepresented communities by aiding them in extracurriculars. SLEO started the branch organization SLRCC, which specifically encourages students to partake in strategy games including solving Rubik’s Cubes and playing chess.
Peng said SLEO is run solely by student volunteers from around St. Louis and aims to provide education opportunities for all.
Peng said there have been about 500 students in the tutoring programs while he has been there.
I’ve seen a lot of impact on students,” Peng said.
Peng said Li got involved with the organization before he did, but became an official teacher in 2024. Peng said Li’s contribution is appreciated.
“He has been with the organization since the start and has continually brought support and team culture to the non-profit,” Peng said. “He is really great at teaching his students in a way that is manageable and comprehensible.”
Besides the volunteer work Li does, Peng said he’s thankful for him as a friend.
“It is a pleasure working beside him and a great friend to talk to,” Peng said.
Divish Dhanalakota, sophomore, taught Li how to solve the last steps of the Rubik’s Cube when they were in elementary school, and they still like to discuss different strategy games like chess. He said Li is especially good at them.
“He plays chess and that’s a very logical game, and so are Rubik’s Cubes so they intertwine in terms of skill level,” Dhanalakota said. “Sometimes I learn some chess openings from him and he teaches me how to do certain moves a certain way, he’s just a logical person and he goes with the flow.”