Need some help with grades, but not want to pay for a tutor? Millbrook High School has a way of helping students in this situation with the TutorCats program. 

  TutorCats is a collaboration between the National Achievers Society (NAS) and the National Honors Society (NHS), dedicated to providing peer and teacher academic support to students in grades 9-12. The program tutors students in mathematics, humanities, and science subjects. TutorCats is held every Thursday from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm in the media center. Students must sign up by noon on the Wednesday before to assure that tutors can be available and successfully assigned to students based on what they need help with. However, there are always extra tutors on stand-by in the event that there is more help needed.

  TutorCats leaders, Holly Tran and Diego Gonzalez, and co-leaders, Hannah Hortman and Kayla Sparks, alternate their tutoring weekly due to their other commitments or clubs. The tutors and tutees are organized with an average of three to four students per tutor based on the students’ academic needs. TutorCats advisor, Mrs. Kierston Bartney explains, “If the students who have signed up for the week need support in Math 3, we will have a tutor that will assist those groups of students in that subject and so on.” 

  Holly and Diego describe the setting of the tutoring sessions: “Each table is labeled with the subject being tutored there, the tutor, and the names of the students assigned to that table for tutoring.” They also explain what the sessions feel like: “The atmosphere of the tutoring sessions are very friendly, open, and supportive. Students may ask for help on homework, practice problems, review questions they got wrong in class, and can engage in conversations with their tutors to better understand the material and concept.” Therefore, TutorCats tutors will put everything they have into making someone feel more comfortable and confident with any concept. 

  TutorCats tutors are members of the NAS and the NHS, and these students give their time as a service to assist other students. Students can access the sign-up page for tutoring sessions by going to this link: https://bit.ly/TutorCatsStudentSignup. Mrs. Bartney adds the statistics of the sessions: “To date, we have had 65 students attend TutorCats, but we have had 95 students sign-up. Between the NAS and the NHS, we have 61 tutors who have signed up to tutor on specific days.”  

  Mrs. Bartney shares what she loves the most about the sessions: “When observing the students giving and receiving tutoring services, it is amazing to see and hear the ‘Ahh Haas’ when the students finally understand a concept  in which they have been struggling with.” Mrs. Bartney and the other TutorCats advisors want students who attend the sessions to feel comfortable enough to say that they do not understand something and that they need help and can leave with an “I got this” sense. “We realize that for some students, it may take just a little bit longer to grasp concepts, especially with the craziness of the last two years. We are glad to be a resource for students to know that they will and can be successful,” Mrs. Bartney adds.

  Lastly, Holly and Diego share how TutorCats helps students: “This program helps students by creating a friendly peer environment in which students can receive special help and attention to their specific academic needs without judgment.” If anyone is struggling with a class and needs some help with a certain concept, then please take advantage of this opportunity and receive better grades in the process.