AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN TUTORS AND STUDENTS

Tutor Diane Rauls worked on a sixth-grade lesson plan for tutors.

The students receive plenty of one-on-one help with problems.

Laura Brown and Laquisha Session, both seniors at Cape Central High School, want to become teachers after they graduate from college. May Greene Elementary School's BEST program is giving them a head start on that dream.

Brown and Session are two of 16 high school students who tutor May Greene youngsters after school Monday through Wednesday every week.

Both have been in the program since its inception three years ago, said Becky Hicks, a second-grade classroom teacher and one of the coordinators of the BEST -- Becoming Excellent Students Together -- program.

This semester, 32 students in grades 4 through 6 are enrolled in the program.

Last semester, students in kindergarten through third grade got help in the after school program, Hicks said.

This year, the tutoring sessions concentrate on honing youngsters' math skills. Reading was emphasized in previous years.

"I think we can be here to help them make better grades," Brown said.

The tutoring program "really opens their eyes" when it comes time to work in class or do homework, Session said.

Tutors work with groups of three to four students at a time. The small groups let tutors give students the individual attention they need, Brown said.

"Most of the time we try to work one-on-one on things they have problems with," she said. "It just depends on the grade level and how simple or how hard the problem is."

Tutors must be referred by teachers at the high school and need the principal's approval to work in the program.

May Greene students are referred by their teachers into the tutoring program if they need extra help with a particular skill.

The tutors also get information from classroom teachers on what skills the students need to develop.

Tutors undergo two weeks of training -- a week for working with K-3 students and another week for students in grades 4-6 -- and learn what behavior strategies classroom teachers are using to help control discipline, said Dava Moore, who teaches learning disabled students at May Greene and helps coordinate the BEST program.

The tutors say they just enjoy the opportunity to work with the youngsters.

"I like working with kids, and I think as much as we teach the kids, the kids teach us a lot, too," Brown said. "I've had to deal with child abuse, fighting and all that. It really puts things in perspective."

Robert Sterling, a sophomore at Cape Central, is a first-year tutor at May Greene. His younger brother attends the school, so Sterling knows several of the students there.

"I thought I'd like to help them," he said.

"I love to help the little ones," Session said. "I love to teach people. Maybe I can make a difference in their lives through helping them understand why you need education and how to use education."

Hicks said the BEST program helps reinforce May Greene's philosophy that education now will pay off later in life, both in ensuring graduating from high school and in getting a job.

"They're not only serving as tutors, they're serving as mentors and role models," she said.

And the tutors also have a chance to learn through teaching, Hicks said.

"They look up to you," Brown said. "I've had kids that I taught three years ago, still tell their friends, `That's my tutor.' And it makes me feel like I've done something worthwhile and I've made a difference for some of these kids."