Most college students can easily relate to the frustration that comes with that one class or subject with which they struggle.

The good news is that Shippensburg University offers a tutoring program to assist students.
Tutoring is available for free to all SU students. The tutors are both undergraduate and graduate students who maintain a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average.

Tutors work with students on various subjects during scheduled appointment times at The Learning Center in Ezra Lehman Library.

Caleb Smith, a biology major and biochemistry minor, works as a tutor in The Learning Center.
He has been tutoring students in biology, chemistry and physics since September 2011.

Smith said that all services are used quite extensively and that looking around the center at any given minute, you will see about 20 tutors and about 25 students; most foreign language tutors see groups of about four or five people.

Overall, Smith said that working as a tutor has been a positive experience. It has allowed him to meet and help a lot of people.

“Not only does tutoring look great on your resume (and medical school application), but it also honestly feels good. The look on someone’s face who has just conquered an opposition that has been bothering them since it was introduced in class is an awesome thing to see,” Smith said.

In addition to tutoring, The Learning Center also has learning specialists and Academic Improvement Plan (AIM) specialists.

These specialists focus more on working with students who are in danger of failing out of school or on academic probation and are required to have tutoring appointments.

As most would probably assume, The Learning Center gets much busier during the weeks leading up to finals.

Most tutors are completely booked with appointments and have alternate tutees waiting to fill any spots ahead of them that may cancel or not show up for their appointments.

Sometimes if it gets too busy, The Learning Center will send groups of people to an individual tutor for group sessions, as long as the material is similar.

However, there is no tutoring during the actual week of finals. Smith strongly encourages students to take advantage of tutoring services if they are experiencing difficulty with a certain class or subject.

“If you need help with something, come to The Learning Center. We are fortunate to attend a university where this service is free and you get individualized attention, so why not use the service?” Smith said.

If students are interested in tutoring services, they can call The Learning Center at (717) 477-1420 to schedule an appointment, email them at Learning@ship.edu, or go right to The Learning Center located on the main level of Ezra Lehman Library.

Share