Members of Bakersfield College’s Tutoring Club want to educate BC students about their newly formed club.
“As well as have fun, we want to help the community academically,” said Alex Hall, chief financial officer for the club who also tutors math for BC’s Learning Center.
“We want to improve the quality of education at BC,” said Howard Succop, vice president for the club, who tutors math and computer science.
Most of the members of the Tutoring Club say they are concerned that the majority of BC students are not aware of the opportunities presented by BC’s Tutoring Center to improve grades as well as to fortify their reservoir of knowledge.
BC’s Tutoring Center is located upstairs in the Student Services building. A variety of subjects are tutored there; tutors are available for math, English, Spanish, ASL, chemistry and countless other subjects.
Weekly appointments can be scheduled. However, “drop in” tutors are also available for math and English for students who do not want weekly appointments.
Tutorial Coordinator Midge Ladd handles tutoring schedules. The Tutoring Center is open from Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Fridays 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
“The main purpose of the Tutoring Center is to help students understand basic concepts in subjects they may have trouble in. It’s to let people know we’re here, and that we want them to come in. We want people to know that tutoring here is free,” said math tutor Roman Terrazas.
Other tutors in the club want to expand beyond the BC campus.
“We’d like to promote the Tutoring Center by going to the high schools,” said Michael
Aguilar, an engineering major and math tutor.
Other tutors want the club to improve the tutoring environment for the tutors as well as serve the BC campus community.
“The club should promote the Tutoring Center and also take care of the needs of tutors with better computers and other supplies. We need a representational body that speaks for us, the tutors,” said Abiola Sagbohan, architecture major and math tutor.
According to a recent petition issued to Lynn Hall, interim dean of student learning, from the fiscal year of 2002 to the fiscal year of 2003, the BC Tutoring Center witnessed a 15 percent rise in tutees.
Along with that rise came a rise in the Tutoring Center supply budget of $300, a sum thought by many tutors as meager. A 5 percent rise in tutees accompanied the next two years. The club forecasted a rise in tutees by 11 percent. Many in the Tutoring Club feel that $300 is not sufficient funds for adequate supplies.
The Tutoring Center members all agree that the center needs funds to maintain its record keeping. For many years, according to members, the center has maintained a record of each tutorial using a triplicate form printed by BC.
At the start of this spring semester, the center was informed that this method of printing was too costly. There upon, the center began using a different method of maintaining tutorial records.
However, this different method requires funds, and the money is not to be had through any BC department.
The different recordkeeping process has cost the center more than $100. The center’s supplies routinely come through Stinson’s, and according to a recent catalog from that establishment, new ink and toner cartridges for the computer printers utilized by the Tutoring Center tutors and tutees will exceed $349 for each year.
The club members fear an inability to meet these financial challenges, and they have formally requested the Interim Dean of Student Learning for a supply budget increase of $750 for each year.
According to Sierra Zurn, English, math and ASL tutor and president of the club, these financial challenges, as well as future projects that include a book drive, are being cheerfully met.
“It’s all new to me-the government process,” Zurn said. “But it’s cool to start a new club with returning tutors, and to promote public knowledge of the club; however, we want to promote learning in general.”