As the rumble of the chairs pushed out travels across the room, the bell for 5th-period rings, and senior Megan Swartzendruber makes her way into room 1114. In this classroom, students of all backgrounds gather with various reasons for being there, some hoping to get help on their math homework or advice on writing essays; others are non-native English speakers there to have a conversation to practice speaking with peers in a non-judgmental and safe setting.
“At the beginning, the students I tutored wouldn’t ask me any questions about anything, but now they come up and say, ‘Hey, what’s it like being an AP Spanish?’ asking about what classes I’ve taken because they want to know if they should do it or not. Then they’re looking forward to doing that stuff,” Megan Swartzendruber said.
Following the theme for the 2024-2025 school year of Every Person Impacts Culture (E.P.I.C.), Ann Schaefer saw a need in her classroom and in the larger school community, which is tutors. Students needed more support and time than they often had in class to complete homework or fully comprehend a given topic.
“The program’s goal is to give students a safe place to learn, to collaborate, and to have others model for them what learning could look like. Students often don’t want to ask, because maybe they’re made to feel that others are judging them. So I like to think of it as a judgment-free academic setting to help people know learning is cool,” Ann Schaefer said.
A group of potential tutors was reached out to at the beginning of the year to initiate the program, and now becoming a tutor is very accessible with QR codes spread around the school on bulletin boards and teachers advertising the program. A key part of the program that students often forget is that tutoring is beneficial for both parties, not just the student being tutored.
“Someone I met earlier this week said to me as she’s gone through City High she’s always been around the same groups of people, and one of the best things about this tutoring program is it has expanded who she’s gotten a chance to be around; people are exchanging Instagram accounts and saying hi to each other in the hallway. She just felt like she’s getting just as much out of it as the students,” Schaefer explained.
EPIC tutoring sets goals, hoping to have a set number of tutors for each hour to ensure that students get equal opportunities. The program also hopes to be able to reward students and tutors alike through grants from the school district.
“I was gone one day and returned to this note on my desk. A kid who went from failing to a B because he finished an essay with a tutor. I’ve had kids who’ve gone from F’s to C’s. I had other kids walk in and say, ‘I aced that test because I worked with a tutor!’” Schaefer said.
