By Jack Peng Website Manager
Having trouble with class is common among many high school students and most of the time they are scrambling for help. Mills High School offers plenty of resources to help students with school such as flex time, guided studies, after school peer tutoring, teacher office hours, and science tutoring.
One of the school resources is Flex Time, which is during school hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for 30 minutes. Students use Flex Time to get help from teachers, make up tests/quizzes, and catch up on work. By scanning in with their school IDs a student can go in and work on homework with their teacher. A senior student, Megan Lee comments on what she does during flex, “I need it to talk to my teachers and catch up on a test.” Mills does not stop with just flex time, they have also implemented classes to further help students.
The next school resource is Guided Studies, a class provided by Mills and taught by Mr. Burdette. Guided Studies focuses on study skills, organizational strategies, critical thinking, team building, leadership training, and character development. This course is fixated on personal and academic success developing life skills such as social awareness and communication skills. Similarly to Guided Studies, Math Support helps students who struggle with Algebra and Geometry. These students receive extra tutoring from math tutors to fight through their mathematical struggles. After school, Mills provides even more help for struggling students.
After school peer tutoring is held at the Mills library until 5:00 PM Monday through Thursday. The tutors are upperclassmen with above a 3.5 GPA. They provide homework help, study tips, and test preparation for subjects like Math, English, Science, and more. The program is run by Israel Hakiem, the after school activities director. Teachers such as Ms. Spencer-Mills, Mr. Olson, and Ms. Kovacs also help out and tutor students in their respective subjects. A tutor, Jonathan Huang spoke on the importance of peer tutoring, “It is for the students that need to catch up on homework assignments.” To even further student studies, teachers offer after school tutoring to struggling students.
Teacher office hours where students can set up a time for extra help with their teacher. Teachers such as Ms. Loi provide it for her Pre-calculus class and Ms. Louie for her Economics or Government classes. This resource is usually offered in Advanced Placement (AP) classes because those students need extra help. Comparable to the teacher’s office hours, science tutoring is held every Wednesday morning from 8:00- 9:00 AM and 3:15- 4:15 PM in Mr. Wang’s classroom for Biology or in Mr. Paul’s classroom for Chemistry. The tutors are students taking AP Biology or AP Chemistry and are paired up with a student taking Biology or Chemistry to review, execute exam preparation, and preview future topics. These school programs are essential for many students to excel in their classes.
Mills offers these resources so no student falls behind and fails. All these programs are free too so it is affordable for everyone. These academic support systems are needed for students that are struggling or exceeding; Make the most of your resources offered to you by attending and utilizing flex time, guided studies, after school peer tutoring, teacher office hours, and science tutoring.
