La Salle’s peer tutoring program strives to help students and the community succeed in their education. If a student needs help in a class, this program offers an opportunity to learn from other students who are experienced in most subjects at La Salle.

The peer tutors are available to support students typically Tuesdays and Thursdays in the mornings from 7:30 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. and in the afternoons of Mondays through Thursdays from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. to provide collaborative support and guidance for their fellow students seeking academic assistance.

Coming in either before or after school, peer tutors have their names on a board with the subjects they are tutoring for that day and students can drop by at any point during this time to ask questions or get help with specific subjects. 

Ms. Shannon Woodworth, Academic Support Specialist, oversees the program, and has designed peer tutoring as a way for students to get a little extra help from their peers.

Ms. Woodworth believes that there are many different ways to seek academic help, whether that be from a parent, teacher, friend, or a peer, and says that these different resources help for different types of academic needs and classes. 

“Being able to work with a peer, someone who is either in that class too, or someone that’s taken that class before, offers an even more [additional] component to it,” Ms Woodworth said. “So if you can get several different acts or several different exposures to the content, you’re going to have a deeper understanding of the material.”

Many tutors highlight the importance of seeking extra help in a class that’s more difficult and express their excitement to assist students in need. The tutors want to help students get over the stigma of asking for help and overcome any hesitancy to ask questions of their peers.

Sophomore Larissa Bonn is in the library Tuesday and Thursday mornings, as well as in the afternoons on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Spanish, English, and Physics are the classes she specializes in. 

Bonn loves to help people in her community and loves the thrill of helping students through problems they struggle with. “I think it’s important that people have the option to have people to come to if they’re uncomfortable talking to their teachers,” she said.

Senior Anne Rust also tutors frequently mainly for the morning sessions. She specializes in Chemistry, German, and Math.

Rust enjoys working with others and reviewing topics. Her message to the students is “we all struggle with certain subjects,” Rust said. “We are here to help because we’ve struggled too. We know what it’s like. And we want you to get through it too.” 

Senior Nathan Wyatt is there on Wednesdays after school, and specializes in math and computer science. Wyatt became a tutor because he enjoys the moments the material clicks for the students, and they become confident in what they’re doing.

“You see a bunch of kids coming in needing help with stuff and there’s a lot of people willing to help,” Wyatt said.

Sophomore Kat Marks tutors on Thursdays after school, and specializes in all freshman classes, as well as coding. Though she started tutoring for service hours she realized the joy it brought her from helping others. “I think that [the peer tutoring program] can be very useful for people who go to learn,” Marks said. “If you put in the effort and go to learn and try and get actual help it’s helpful.”

These tutors along with the many others in the program are there to help students understand the material they are learning. Peer tutors can also help students study for quizzes, tests, and help them to discover their own learning style.

Ms. Woodworth feels that, especially for a college prep school, it is important to have a peer tutoring program, as it is another tool for students to use to further their education and prepare themselves for college. 

Even though some may feel getting tutored by someone in high school can be embarrassing, the tutors have shared that it is a judgment-free zone. Everyone wants to be there and they want people to come in as they usually only get one to two people per week. For students looking for help in any of their classes, peer tutoring is there to help them.