The General Tutoring Center has recently opened for all grades so that those struggling in a class can receive personalized help in core subjects and electives like computer science, world language and even ESOL.
Tutoring Center sponsor and English teacher Chynna Wendell began an early form of a tutoring center in her own room last year during Learn.
“Last year I saw that many of my current and former students were struggling with various subjects, so I enlisted tutors, mostly upperclassmen, to come to my room during Learn to help these kids,” Wendell said.
Other teachers now co-supervise the center for similar reasons.
“I saw [the center] as an opportunity to get to know students that are not in my classes,” history teacher Ross Naquin said. “I also thought it would be a great way to help struggling students, and this gives students another way to ask for help here at Marshall.”
The center is open Tuesdays through Fridays in the cafeteria during Learn.
“It really has been a good environment to get help and to get work done,” Naquin said.
Foreign language tutors are students who are in an advanced level foreign language classes like French and Spanish. The ESOL tutors are students who have been through the ESOL program themselves, and thus are better able to relate to the students they tutor.
Teachers recommend certain students to complete the application process and become peer tutors, while others come from various honor societies to earn hours at the center.
“We prefer our tutors to be upperclassmen because they will have had more teachers and more classes by then,” Wendell said.
Tutors assign themselves to specific marked tables so that people can come in and know exactly where to go. No sign-up is required to visit the center.
In addition to the school subjects offered, the CyberPatriot club is starting to assimilate into the center too. The Cyber club is offering tutors to interested students who want to further prepare for the CyberPatriot competition. They will also assist in any cyber-related topics upon request.
“Tutoring computer science and Cyber is actually really easy, we start with a broad topic and do hands-on learning to get familiar with that subject, then move on to the next,” senior Jared Zell said.
As the school year progresses and the workload heavies, all classes can come to the General Tutoring Center to ask for help on a certain subject or simply to have a quiet place to get work done.