No Calculators can Solve These Equations

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Jaedan Flagg, left, helps Kareem Zaarour. The tutors and freshmen students meet once a week and have a pizza party after completing their work to celebrate. (Photo courtesy of Natalie Gore)

Multiple honor society members have volunteered to translate and tutor students who do not speak English as their first language. In exchange for helping these students once a week in Ms. McNally’s math classes, the honors students receive credits for their respective societies. The program is a highly beneficial opportunity to make the school more inclusive as well as a great way for new students to break out of their comfort zone, make new friends, and expand their horizons.

Ms. McNally, a math teacher, teaches Introduction to High School Math. The class generally prepares freshmen for Math I. In each period, there are seven or eight students who solely speak Spanish, which makes the teacher-student interaction very difficult at times.

Hannah Bruno, a senior and member of Spanish National Honor Society, was one of the first to volunteer for the tutoring program.

“[I]t helps me get hours, but it’s also rewarding to do without that kind of motivation…once the students start to understand what the teacher’s saying, they just do so much better in the class, and they tell their friends, and they stay for lunch and get help, and then we get more Spanish-speaking students in to help them,” said Bruno.

Due to the assets that both sides of the equation receive, the program is continuously growing. Not only is it beneficial for the honor society members and the math students, but it also helps the teacher.

As members of an honor society, they have excelled academically and can be a great help because they can tutor with little direction from me,” said McNally.

In addition to earning required hours, it is very gratifying for the tutors to help the students with their schoolwork, as well as helping them adjust to school at Leesville.

It really is…one of the most rewarding things you’ll do, to make someone that happy,” said Bruno.

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