After the brunch bell rings, students make their way to their academies to study, do homework, or chat with friends. However, instead of focusing on their own academic needs, there is a group of students who volunteer their time to help others study, free of charge. They are the peer tutors, and they’re available every office hours academy to help any student who needs it.
Sophomore Rose Reining is the head tutor, meaning she works with technology coordinator and computer science teacher Jana Branisa and administration to run the program. Reining said she is looking for more people to attend peer tutoring both as tutors and tutees.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t click when your teacher teaches it to you, and it takes that extra bit to learn it. I think peer tutoring is a great place where there’s non-judgmental help and you can hear it from someone else who can explain it in a different way,” Reining said.
Other peer tutors agreed that peer tutoring is a great way to learn how to understand topics in ways that make more sense to students.
“Teachers often show it from one point of view. A [peer tutor] learns it from that teacher’s point of view, develops it on their own, and is able to show it in a different way that is perhaps more accessible and understandable to students,” senior Samantha Huynh said. “Maybe they’re using easier concepts or easier ways of explaining, and that can help a student understand it more.”
In addition to being a helpful resource for students, volunteering as a tutor counts for community service hours.
“If a student is willing to be a tutor, they can get community service hours for working with students during academy,” Huynh said.
Assistant Principal Joe Marik said that he encourages students to participate in peer tutoring for community service hours.
“We encourage students to pursue meaningful volunteer opportunities within the community and external from outside the community,” Marik said. “This is just one way in which you might give back to your fellow students by sharing information about a course you’ve taken or about a course you’re particularly interested in.”
Resource Specialist Emily Hook said that she was working to improve the peer tutoring program in 2019, but was set back by the pandemic. She proposed that she run peer tutoring during academy along with peer tutors, and she launched the virtual version in the fall of 2020 during distance learning.
“There’s a huge stigma in the community that you can’t ask for help. The community is very quick to hire professional tutors, but these student tutors have been in the room with those teachers,” Hook said. “They know the curriculum better than anybody, and it’s free.”
When Hook’s role during Academy was changed by administration, she was no longer able to lead peer tutoring. Marik said that the criteria that determines which teacher leads peer tutoring varies each year, depending on teachers’ schedules.
“I work with the student leaders to talk through logistics, figure out marketing, and figure out the process to make sure we can maximize the opportunity to get tutored or be a tutor,” Marik said.
Students expressed their gratitude for the program, and for the work that both peer tutors and staff do to make it possible.
“I’m grateful that there are tutors who are willing to help because I know that high school gets hard. I’m just glad that they’re taking the time to teach us to excel in school and do better,” freshman Yen Vo said.
To attend peer tutoring, students can tag Irfan Ortak for Wednesday academies or Jana Branisa for Friday academies.
“Take advantage of it. It’s a valuable resource that many people don’t realize we have,” Branisa said.
