Audrey Sum and Berta Cortada Solé / Staff Reporter
The Talons tutoring program is starting up again this year for the first time since its initial creation as an online edition in September 2020. Offered by the ConX leadership it offers an opportunity for students to gain tutoring experience and volunteer hours.
“This is an incredibly complex project,” said Adam Hayes, social studies and ConX teacher. There is a group of students who organize, coordinate, and train another group of high schoolers who are interested in tutoring. Once the tutors are prepared, the team will promote the service to all elementary schools for grades 4 and 5, middle schools, and high schools for grade 9 by getting in touch with principals, teachers, and counselors in the district. After getting people signed up, tutors and students will match and set up a schedule for their tutoring meetings in the library on one of the four days assigned to them.
The first time that this project started was two years ago at the beginning of September 2020 during the quarter system. The ConX students decided they wanted to help the community through online tutoring during the pandemic according to Hayes who described this project as “it’s providing an amazing service to the kids in our district who are looking up for help, and parents who can’t afford to hire tutors”.
By creating a digital space with Microsoft Teams, each school was set up in a group where all the teachers, students, and tutors were in the same place. It allowed tutors and tutees to host virtual meetings and get help with their work.
For tutors, it may also mean representing Gleneagle or getting volunteer hours for graduation. On the other hand, for tutees, signing up to this program may lead to making new friends, losing the fear of high school and its students, or growing confidence. “Offering a tutoring service allows students to feel more confident about their learning and be able to go home having completed or progressed on assignments,” Grace Lee, grade 12 and Talons tutoring coordinator.
To the Con-X organizers, this initiative is more than tutoring, it’s about building connections and providing students that struggle in difficult subjects with a different method of learning through someone that is closer to their age.
“Talons Tutoring is crucial to our community because we value the opportunity to further students learning beyond the school hours,” concluded Lee.
Hayes would like to let all students in grade 9 know that it is not too late to sign up if they think they could use extra help in a subject.
“Don’t be shy about it” said Hayes, “there are a lot of students in grade 11 and 12 with great skills that are willing to offer their talent and we should take advantage of that.”