By Heather Whitty | Copy Editor
A new effort to improve Marshfield academics has been taken on by the students of the National Honor Society in the form of peer tutoring. Peer tutoring is this year’s NHS community service project.
“We needed a project goal in addition to all of the stuff that we normally do, and tutoring seemed like a good idea,” NHS President and senior Lisa Donato said.
Tutoring for MHS students is now available in the school library every Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., altering each week between the NHS students as tutors and MHS staff members as tutors. On certain tutoring days, typically four NHS students are there to assist students who do not understand their work.
According to Donato, NHS students have a general understanding of their schoolwork.
“Usually they’re the ones who have a good knowledge of all the subjects,” Donato said.
There have been tutoring opportunities for students in the past, but situations arose that prevented the continuance of those sessions.
“We used to do it after school a few days a week; we had a grant,” Dean of Students Bruce Bryant said. “We don’t have that grant anymore.”
On the Fridays when NHS students are tutoring, students have the added benefit of learning from their peers. Donato said the material can be easier to understand when presented by another student.
“I think it’s really neat for the students to have a teacher relationship with their peers,” Donato said. “They can relate more to the material when it’s being taught by people with the same vocabulary and experiences as them.”
The students being tutored are not the only people benefitting from the exchange.
“I think it’s good for the kids helping out with the tutoring to have that experience, to give back,” Bryant said.
Junior Brad Beaudry, an NHS tutor, feels he also is learning from the experience.
“Tutoring has developed my social skills,” Beaudry said.
According to Principal Greg Mulkey, most of the students who attend the sessions need assistance in math.
“Math seems to be our number one area that need the most help,”Mulkey said.
The new schedule at MHS provides less time before school for students to talk to teachers than last year’s schedule allowed. Students have less time to get help on work they do not understand.
Mulkey realizes that students have limited time to communicate with their teachers.
“During the day, we don’t have a lot of time [to talk to teachers] either, except for office hours,” Mulkey said.
Bryant feels the extra day off every week should be utilized.
“Now that we have Fridays off, we talked about making them available to students,” Bryant said.
A problem that has come up with the new Friday sessions is a lack of transportation. Many students find it difficult to get rides to school when the buses are not running.
“On Fridays, they have to get transportation here and back. The challenge is, it is on their day off,” Bryant said.
Sophomore Christa Jackson said she feels students could find a way to get to the tutoring sessions if they tried.
“There are people that are willing to get them there,” Jackson said. “If they need help, they should just ask.”
