By Staff Writer: Rachel Cichon
The National Honors Society has long been providing Howell High School students with tutoring opportunities. Until recently, tutoring was only available in the media center at the high school. Earlier this year NHS began to offer tutoring not only at the 10-12 building, but at the Freshman Campus as well. Now, the organization is branching out even further with plans to start providing tutoring for students at Highlander Way Middle School.
“We decided to start tutoring at the middle school to create more opportunities that will help kids understand their schoolwork at an earlier level, and to connect the two schools,” says HHS junior Cailin Ferguson, a tutoring coordinator for NHS.
The idea to start offering tutoring to the younger kids stems from NHS supervisor, Mr. Duane Millar, who noticed last year that there were often more tutors than students present at the high school. Instead of seeing that as a problem, he saw it as an opportunity to provide a wider range of students with assistance.
“I coach middle school cross country, and it seemed like there was a lot of need,” Mr. Millar says. “So I decided to reach out and help other students.”
His decision to distribute the tutors among all three schools has been met with positive feedback. Mr. Millar believes that this new opportunity can benefit not only middle school students but members of NHS as well.
“Many kids in NHS may go into a field of education in their future, so this gives them a chance to gain experience working with the younger kids,” Mr. Millar says.
Initially, Mr. Millar also wanted to extend tutoring to students at Parker Middle School. Unfortunately, due to difficulties with transportation and a lack of guaranteed adult supervision, this idea is improbable. However, any student from Parker that is able to transport themselves to the high school, freshman campus or Highlander Way is welcome to come and receive tutoring.
Tutoring at Highlander Way began the first week of October and will steadily continue. Like tutoring at HHS and the freshman campus, it will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:15 or 3:30. Any interested student is encouraged to come and receive assistance. The tutoring can benefit any young student, as it will not simply help them with schoolwork, but also to prepare them for upcoming reality of high school education.
“The tutors will mainly teach them organization and study skills – not rocket science,” Millar says. “They can still teach that if they want, but at the high school.”
