Many students at Central York High School need a little extra help with some of their assignments. This is where the student tutors come in. They work one-on-one with the tutees to help with their education. But what many people don’t know is how all of this is set up and executed. 

Being a tutor doesn’t happen as soon as you apply. Once students sign up to tutor, they get put on a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet includes all students who sign up and what classes they are able to tutor for. When a position opens up, Student Tutoring Advisor and Guidance Counselor, Charlotte Utter, will notify the student informing them of the position. 

“[It is] Really rare that I can’t find a tutor to a subject,” said Utter.

With COVID-19 dragging on, there are two main ways to tutor: in-person or through a zoom meeting. The in-person tutoring remains the same from previous years, students report to the hub, helping each other out. The zoom meeting tutoring is a different story. These meetings can be rigorous depending on the unit of study. Some sessions can last hours.

“I don’t like to burn out my tutors,” Utter said. 

Out of all of the different classes, algebra two is definitely the most requested course for tutoring. The class has a lot of curriculum crammed into just a few months, not to mention how challenging it can be. The exact numbers are always changing, but as of Oct. 26, there are a total of 33 tutors and 19 tutees. Of these 33 tutors, 23 are attending school in person and ten are remote learners. The number of remote tutors could increase, but the school is handling the number of tutors overall pretty well.

“…I believe there is not a dire need, as well as in general, there seems to be an overall well spread out amount of tutors,” said junior Carissa Martinez, current spanish tutor.

Martinez has not really experienced any struggles in tutoring this year. The only difference she had noticed is the requirement of masks and social distancing. This has not impacted her ability to tutor though, as she still gets the job done well and efficiently. Though the tutoring itself is fairly the same, the commitment is still a challenge.

“When tutoring, it is important to be sure that you are confident and knowledgeable in the topics you are teaching. If this requires you to review and make sure you know what you’re doing before the tutoring sessions, then this is something you should be aware of,” said Martinez.

The process of becoming a tutor is a fairly similar process from last year. Use the link mentioned on CTV or on the school website to sign up. In this process, you mention your name, grade level, availability and what classes you can tutor. New tutors are always welcomed and any subject is able to be tutored. The satisfaction of helping others makes it all worth it. 

“My advice would be to try it, there can never be too many tutors. The more the merrier. Pick a few subjects you feel comfortable in and apply to start tutoring. Helping someone learn something can be highly rewarding and it might be more fun than you think,” said Martinez.