“Everyone needed help,” Spriggs said.
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The trio started the Tutoring Corner to fulfill a service project requirement for their Leadership and Community Engagement class, which is part of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) curriculum. Spriggs, who is in charge of the high school tutoring program, said only three high schoolers said they needed help at the Tutoring Corner’s first meeting in October. Now, 31 high schoolers are being tutored by 40 of their peers.
“I think people are starting to realize it’s OK to need help, nobody’s perfect, and it makes your grades go higher,” Spriggs said.
Frost, who is in charge of the elementary school tutoring program, uses three tabbed and color-coded binders to organize sign-in sheets for tutors, lesson plans, evaluation tests, and tutoring enrollment forms. Frost won first place in the state Teach and Train competition hosted by the FCCLA last April — tutoring is just the next step in fulfilling his dream to be a teacher.
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“We know there’s students who need help — sometimes I need help, especially when I was a freshman,” Frost said.
Due to Frost’s initiative, more than 45 elementary students are now being tutored by eight high schoolers after school hours.
Smith started a literacy program with the elementary students last year, but now she’s directing the middle school Tutoring Corner. She met with the middle school principals on Monday, and plans to launch the middle school program later this semester. Like Frost, she also wants to work with kids when she graduates: her plan is to become a pediatrician.
The students’ teacher, Donna Jarzab, said all three will compete in the FCCLA service project competition this year. None of the other service projects in the Leadership and Community Engagement class have been as successful as the Tutoring Corner, she said.
“When I heard they were doing this, I thought, ‘they’re going to change the culture of this school,’ because they’re making it cool to learn and get good grades,” Jarzab said. “I can’t wait to see it two to five years down the road.”
“I can’t either,” said Frost.
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