High school can be stressful enough, but balancing school work and other activities can lead to students falling behind. This pressure can make it difficult to maintain good grades. Fortunately, Silver Creek offers free tutoring services in the Library to help students with all the school problems they might encounter regarding school work.

Tutoring In the library is one of many services Silver Creek offers. Free after-school tutoring is available from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Each day there is at least one math teacher, one science teacher, and an English teacher. Between eight to ten teachers help in total. That number will change throughout the sports season, since students in sports will need to keep their grades up to remain playing.

The program was created by the administration in 2021. Faculty noticed a number of students were struggling with their classes post-pandemic, and some kids just needed a little extra help.

Kristin Holtz, Silver Creek librarian says, “It’s not exactly tutoring because it’s not always one on one, but you are able to get homework help and extra support, especially if you’re behind on something or you’re struggling to understand concepts of math, or if you need help writing an essay.”

Newsletters regarding tutoring have gone home so that students and parents both know about it. Teachers are also letting kids know about it in classrooms, and over the morning announcements.

Many students could benefit from tutoring, although some of them might not reach out and get the help they need even though these resources are so close. An obstacle that may possibly be preventing students from reaching out and getting the help, is that some kids might not have the courage to actually put as much effort into getting tutoring if they need it.

Silver Creek freshman Olyse Mecca thinks that free tutoring is great, and that many students could definitely benefit from some extra help. However, the topic of if students would go out and try to get help was brought up. “I think students might be scared to get help,” Says Mecca.

Unfortunately, other people seemed to agree, such as freshman student Gabby Jones. “It’s definitely true…. It makes a lot of people feel stupid if they need tutoring, but that’s not what that means. It just means you need help,” Jones says.

Both Jones and Mecca both stated that they would use the tutoring if they needed it. This goes to show how this is an underutilized resource. “It depends on the student who is willing for their grade to be upped,” Mecca states.

This is a resource that most schools do not offer, so it is crucial that students take advantage of this, and use it to the fullest extent.

“Paying for tutoring can be very expensive, so for offering it at the school they were able to get teachers, and they do pay the teachers who come, which is nice because they are giving up extra time,” Mrs. Holtz mentions.

Between the different perspectives, it seems as though students can agree that this resource is helpful, and that many students can benefit from getting help with homework. Therefore, it’s important for students to use the free tutoring, and tell their friends who may be struggling about this resource.