More students have been using the tutoring center during the part-time union strike this semester. Between weeks 9 and 12, so just after the strike started on Oct. 30 and through Thanksgiving break, 22% more students used the Academic Center for Tutoring compared to the same time last year.
Tanya Harasym, director of ACT, said the center conducts around 2,500 tutoring sessions per academic year.
Some students have used the tutoring center as a way to keep up with their work while their strike-impacted classes weren’t being held.
“After the strike, everything kind of fell apart. So, I’ve been getting extra help here,” said Abbey Ellerglick, a sophomore music major, who’s been going to the tutoring center consistently.
Ellerglick has been working with tutors to work on assignments for her music theory class and elements of music design.
“We weren’t being taught and I still wanted to keep up with my personal learning,” she said. “And honestly, [my tutor] is a better teacher than my actual teacher.”
Harasym said the center is also open to students looking to enhance academic progress and those simply looking “to collaborate with a peer, have a second pair of eyes on their work, or reinforce existing knowledge.”
The tutoring center “supports a variety of subject areas including writing, science, math, accounting, finance, software applications, illustration, audio arts, music theory and foreign language,” Harasym said.
The tutors at the center are students themselves. Harasym said they have to meet specific criteria and certification requirements to be hired and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or above. They also have to receive an “A” in the courses or subjects they are tutoring in and receive a faculty recommendation.
Steffi Stoffel, junior creative writing major and tutor, said that since the strike began, she noticed some students started to come in less often while others have been coming in more. Overall, she hasn’t noticed a drastic change in the number of appointments being made. “I haven’t felt that much of a difference throughout the semester,” she said.
Dafne Garcia, a first-year dance major, has not used the tutoring center. “I feel like most of the time I leave my assignments for almost like the day that I have to submit it and so sometimes I’m in a rush, and I don’t like pressuring people to help me when I am in a rush. And I don’t know sometimes I feel like I can do it by myself even if I do need help.”
Ellerglick said she wished she knew about the tutoring center sooner because at the beginning of the semester she had a lot of unnecessary stress.
“I didn’t realize that this was even a resource,” she said.
Students can book one time or weekly tutoring appointments by emailing the center with their preferred date and time.
