'Cape's best math tutor': Retired professor Victor Gummersheimer has a reputation for helping students understand math

Victor Gummersheimer, a volunteer at the Adult Learning Center, works with Alesha Heard on March 23.

Glenn Landberg

Teaching math has always been a passion for Dr. Victor Gummersheimer, who came to Southeast Missouri State University as a math instructor.

He taught a variety of math classes during his time at Southeast.

"I taught college algebra, intermediate algebra, calculus, differential equations and numerical analysis," Gummersheimer says.

He was named chairman of the math department at Southeast in 1995.

"I remained the chairman of the math department until I retired in 2009," he says.

Victor Gummersheimer, a volunteer at the Adult Learning Center, works with Alesha Heard on March 23.

Glenn Landberg

While he enjoyed teaching in the classroom, tutoring students in math was his real passion.

"In all my years of teaching at the university, students would often come to see me during my office hours for tutoring," he says. "I always preferred tutoring to preparing a fancy lecture."

He retired from Southeast in May 2009, and in August of that same year, he went to the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center to sign up for a woodworking class and a small engine repair class.

"I found out that they were needing a math tutor at the Adult Learning Center on Clark Street," he says.

He's volunteered at the Adult Learning Center ever since.

The center is part of the Adult Education and Literacy Program, which is governed by the Cape Girardeau Public School Board.

Gummersheimer helps adult students prepare for the HiSet exam (formerly known as the GED exam) as well as the TEAS exam, which is one of the requirements to enter the LPN nursing program at the CTC.

"For the HiSet exam, students take an exam when they enter the program to determine what areas they are needing help," Gummersheimer says. "It's very individual based and everyone works at their own pace. I just go around the room and answer questions and help them as needed."

He says he finds his work very rewarding.

"I feel like it's my calling in life," he says. "I kind of became known as the 'go-to-guy' around the dorms at SEMO if you needed help in math."

His favorite part of tutoring at the Adult Learning Center is when a student grasps a concept they were struggling to understand.

"I love seeing the light go on," he says. "And the students are so appreciative. Some of them will come back and tell me that they passed the test, and that just makes my day!"

Cathy Matthews, an instructor in the Cape Girardeau Adult Education and Literacy Program, says Gummersheimer's tutoring skills have had a huge effect on many students who have gone through the program over the years.

"Most students that come here are a bit scared of math, and almost all of them need some remedial math help," she says. "Dr. Vic takes the time to do in-depth one-on-one tutoring with students, and he's also assessing the students as he's [working with them]. They may be working on percentages, but he'll see gaps in their [understanding of] fractions, so he'll work on that with them as well."

Gummersheimer also has helped the other instructors in the Adult Literacy Program.

"He has taught professional development classes for us," Matthews says. "He is such a blessing to this program."

In addition to tutoring math students, Gummersheimer enjoys doing small engine repairs.

"After I took the class at the CTC, I started working on chain saws, weed eaters, lawn mowers and leaf blowers," he says. "I tinker around on them for friends of mine and I only charge them for the parts. I do the labor for free because I really enjoy it."

He also enjoys his 1969 Mercury.

"It's a big, old car that I bought new, and I've kept it all these years," he says.

Gummersheimer, who is 73, has been married to his wife, Dee, for 24 years. Between them, they have five children: Michael, Melissa, Melinda, Katrina and Eric. They have eight grandchildren, and one on the way.