This year, Sage Hill is offering a new peer tutor program which allows students, particularly underclassmen, to get extra support for their transition to Sage Hill’s rigorous academics.
Students can confidentially book appointments with a qualified peer tutor in the Library Nook for a 20-minute session.
The booking process is purely student-motivated, meaning students book sessions if they feel the need for supplementary assistance in a class or concept. Moreover, students are free to book appointments weeks in advance or the day of the appointment. The structure of a given session is usually a mix of tutor explanation and tutee demonstration to ensure the latter understands the concept better than when they walked in.
School Librarian and Peer Tutor Program Lead Michalle Gould selected prospective peer tutors after an extensive application and interview process. Gould considered their grade point average, performance in the subjects they wanted to tutor and their motivations for being a peer tutor. “I also had them do a sample lesson. I had them pick a topic…in one of the classes they were interested in tutoring and…teach it to me as if I was a student in the class,” Gould said.
Despite this effort, the fledgling peer tutor program has seen fewer scheduled appointments than anticipated. However, since the release of quarter grades and an October Town Meeting announcement, the number of bookings has ticked up, Gould said.
“We anticipated that it would take some time for people to get familiar with it,” said Gould.
Regardless of the present popularity of the program, peer tutors are passionate about their work.
“It’s satisfying knowing you helped someone…to get the ‘Aha’ moment,” junior and math peer tutor Tony Tan said. “I wish…that I had that experience during freshman year when…I was confused about something, I [could] just ask…a peer of mine to explain it,” said Tan. “That is actually exactly why I started doing it.”
Senior and biology peer tutor Annie Zhu had similar motivations for becoming a peer tutor.
“I [felt]…a sense of responsibility to help the lowerclassmen if they have trouble on stuff because I’ve been through it all,” said Zhu. “I hope the peer tutor program gets…more well-known just so more people know that this thing is out there and…we’re there to help them.”
