At King, students show compassion towards each other in various ways, such as tutoring fellow students with subjects they need help in. Friends at Work is a tutoring program implemented by physics teacher Shedrick Ward. This program, which began after first card marking, allows upperclassmen to tutor underclassmen in their core classes. Tutees were selected by their classroom teacher.
“I enjoy tutoring the students,” said junior Demarcus Taylor. “It’s volunteering, and it is a passion.”
The tutors use many examples to strengthen the tutees’ skills and have their own teaching style to help the students improve their grades.
“I’m more of a one-on-one type of person, so I like to see where their lowest points are and help from there,” said junior and tutor Kamari McHenry.
Some students may struggle in the traditional class setting and a smaller environment is more helpful for these individuals. Friends at Work meets after school and is completely taught by students. Because of the tutees’ successes, more tutors were needed and now teachers assist as well. “We depend on the students who get A’s and B’s to make themselves available to the students who perform at the opposite end of spectrum,” said Ward.
The recipients of tutoring services become more aware of time, punctuality, and productivity in a restricted amount of time. In the program, students have 45 minutes to learn something and to show evidence of what they have learned.
For the second card marking, some students saw their grade point average increase. Freshman Zamaria Battle specifically needed help in mathematics. Last card marking, Battle’s overall grade point average was a 4.0.
“I just needed help in math,” said Battle. “I pull my work out and they help me out.”
