The Tiger Tutor Program was invented in 2023. The purpose is to help students with their academic assignments and studying, which takes place in the Tiger Lab, upstairs in the student center.
“People who identify themselves as academically strong sign up to be a tutor,” senior Orafiri Koko said. “Then they can tutor their peers in different subjects.”
In the Tiger Tutor Lab there is a board with an entire rotation where everyone can see who is tutoring and during what period. It helps to plan a lesson but also spontaneous help is almost always possible.
“Sometimes, especially during office hours, the teachers are very packed. The Tiger Tutors can give you one-on-one time to get the help and explanations you need,” junior Joshua Butler said. “This saves a lot of time for teachers and is overall a great experience.”
Regular short learning sessions can lead to overall academic success.
“You have to keep in mind that you don’t have to go to the Tiger Lab for 45 minutes, you can even go there for five or ten minutes,” Jessica Laliberte, one of the program’s founders said. “We encourage students to come up and study because it’s a great space with lots of coffee and great comfy chairs.”
The founding of the program involved different perspectives on the topic and many discussions were held before it was finally integrated into everyday school life.
“The Tiger Tutor Program was created because we, the teachers, Mr. Woods and other faculty felt like we needed more support for students,” Laliberte said. “When a student is struggling before the Tiger Tutor Program they would go to office hours and then get extra help, but then beyond that if they’re still struggling we did not have [answers to] what they would do next. We also wanted to really give opportunities to our smartest and brightest students to have service hours and really give back to the community.”
Learning from other students can be helpful in different ways than learning with a teacher, even though it may seem uncomfortable at first.
“Learning from your peers is helpful because they are in these classes too or have done them before, ” Koko said. “They can share their own tips with you and will probably explain it from a different perspective than a teacher usually does.”
There are multiple options for how students can learn from their peers.
“Even when a student just comes up to study next to them and to learn some tips on how to study or to take notes, that’s cool too,” Laliberte said. “It’s a very chill and safe space. We just want everyone to feel like they can stop by.”
Darlington’s selected theme this school year is “Community” which is also supported by the Tiger Tutor Program.
“I think it is building community in a sense that people that might not necessarily have talked to each other before meet up in the tiger tutor space,” Koko said. “It is a good way to learn different perspectives, and I’m learning even more about subjects that I’m not necessarily the most fond of while I tutor.”
There are many different reasons why people come to see a Tiger Tutor.
“Students can come to us at any time, and there will be someone there to help. We encourage students to come during their free periods or when they need to catch up on work, but anytime works,” senior Anthony Natarella said. “We relate to the students, we have had some of their teachers, and we can explain things differently than a teacher.”
The Tiger Tutors do not try to replace the teachers. The purpose is to provide extra support.
“We definitely don’t want students to meet with a tiger tutor instead of their teachers. What we want is for them to go to their teacher first, and see if their teacher can provide that extra help, and if it is just not clicking or they just need something different they should know that it is time to see a tiger tutor,” Laliberte said. “They can also do it at the same time, so they go to their teacher and around the same time go see a tiger tutor.”
The Tiger Tutors have made a positive impact on the community.
“As time goes on, more students are coming to the Tiger Tutors. It has had a huge impact on their productivity and their grades have been going up,” Butler said. “We have seen a lot of improvement with the regular people who have been coming to us.”
“I have heard of a lot of mini sessions where students that I know have come in, sat down, asked a question and left knowing how to do what they were struggling with,” Laliberte said. “Every student struggles at some point in the year and you don’t have to feel alone. There are 30 tiger tutors and every single one has been there before. They remember feeling like they can’t do something.”
Being part of this special program can mean something different to every individual.
“Being a tiger tutor means to me that I’m being helpful because school can be hard, and if I can make it easier for someone, I’m glad and happy to do that,” Koko said. “I hope the program will continue to grow and maybe if we do stuff outside of tutoring, we could host panels or research projects. That would be great.”
Plans for the future are already set. Members of the program share different visions.
“I would like for students to come and get help. I know they are struggling and often it ends in avoiding the work but at that point, you should decide to go to the tiger lab and ask your question,” Laliberte said. “There are a lot of friendly people who are just willing to help.”