By Laura Shaver
Need tutoring? BYU''s Center for Service and Learning''s got the answer.
The center provides free peer-tutoring for all students that not only benefits the tutored, but the tutor as well.
Theodore Okawa, coordinator of Tutoring Services, said he oversees the program and works on system development.
'I found that, in general, when I study a subject just to learn it for myself, I don''t need to learn it quite as well as when I feel like I need to learn it so I can teach it to someone else,' Okawa said. 'So, that additional motivation or pressure to be able to teach someone else made me a better student.'
Okawa said he believes it is the same for BYU students who volunteer. He also said he thinks peer tutoring brings blessings like any service does and it is doing their duty as Latter-day Saints to help those around them.
Sarah Harward, 23, an English major from Loomis, Calif., is an assistant in the learning administrative office. Although she has never been a tutor herself, Harward said she has seen a lot of students helped by peer tutoring services.
'The best thing about the tutoring program is when students are able to match up and receive help, they are so appreciative,' Harward said. 'It is great to see students helping other students.'
Okawa said BYU has had a peer tutoring program since its beginning, although the peer tutoring program in its current form has been around since 1994.
The peer-tutoring program has an average of 1,200 volunteer tutors a semester. Only about 500 students sign up for a tutor each semester. Typically only about 50 percent of applicants get matched up. This semester, more chemistry and statistics tutors are needed, although there is a surplus of tutors in other subjects.
'This program is great because the tutoring is free, students should take advantage of that,' said Brooke Barker, 21, an English major from Laie, Hawaii.
Tutoring through the center is free. All a student needs to do in order to receive a tutor is fill out a request form and wait to be matched up with a tutor. The only requirement to volunteer as a peer tutor is a B or better in any class to be tutored. Peer tutor volunteers can expect a time commitment of 1-3 hours a week, although Harward said it is usually less, depending on the student.
Applications to be a tutor or to be tutored can be found online at tutoring.byu.edu or students can apply in person at the tutoring services office, 2010 WSC across from the Varsity Theater.