At the beginning of this year, Assistant Principal Mr. Aaron Allen started a tutoring program for students struggling with grades, organization and work completion.  He sees it as a great opportunity for students to get help and to catch up on work, ensuring a successful year for each student.

This new program, called Power Hour, is after school and is on a teacher recommended basis. The teacher is able to pick students struggling in an area, from language arts to math. Since this is the school’s first year with this program, they don’t know how it will turn out.  Allen feels like it  will be a hit.  “I’ve done this type of program at other schools and it has shown outstanding growth,” Allen said.

There are many benefits as this is a time where students can attain one-on-one help from teachers.  The program is not just limited to math and science, either.  “We also have support for our fine arts program, our music program, and language department.  It’s all across the school not just the academic side students are typically tested on,” Allen said.

The school is even providing snacks for the students being tutored.

After one week of Power Hour, most students might see this as a punishment.  However, some see it as an aid for the students’ future by achieving good grades and being organized. Alexa Gomez said, “There really aren’t any cons of tutoring. You can get the help you need when you are gone or just don’t understand something,” Gomez said.

In the first week of tutoring, the administration was not enforcing attendance, as the school was working out the kinks in the system. Now they are requiring that students attend tutoring.

“My goal is to provide a resource for all students, so they can get extra support. If we can stop kids from procrastinating on grades early in the year, then we will have a lot more successful students and school,’’ Allen said

Teachers from each department volunteer to stay after school to work with students each day.