Tutoring Center teaches students and tutors alike

MHCC’s Tutoring Center is a center for learning: Students learn from tutors, tutors learn from lead tutors, and some tutors even go on to become learning specialists.

The drop-in center, on the upper floor reached by stairs inside the Library, has been helpful for many students over the years and has inspired some students to become a tutor. Some tutors who currently work in the tutoring center have once been in the shoes of the MHCC students they now help.

During his freshman year at MHCC, math tutor Sebastian Baldivieso used the tutoring center for help in his coursework. He now is a junior at Portland State University and is involved in PSU’s math program. He said he became interested in becoming a math tutor during his first year at MHCC: “I eventually asked, ‘What were the requirements?’ ”

Although Baldivieso attends college in downtown Portland, he continues to dedicate his time to tutor MHCC students in all levels of math.

“I like helping people. I just want to give back the knowledge that I gained,” he said.

That includes helping students cope with exams, during and at the end of courses. “People struggle at math during midterm times, because as you advance in the course, you start acquiring new information. And as it progresses and the midterm comes, you kind of forget it,” Baldivieso said.

While midterms and final exams can be stressful, there are many success stories for MHCC math students, he said: “I’ve seen a lot of people start at Math 60, 65 (who) now are taking calculus and statistics.”

The tutoring center commonly serves as a place where students do homework. Alex Brown, a second-year MHCC student, is one of many students tutored by Baldivieso.

“I do a little bit of studying, running through everything I’ve learned,” Brown said. “I do my homework here, because if I have any questions I can get my answers from (the tutors).”

Brown has previously taken a chemistry course. He said chemistry and math students seem to use the tutoring center most. Now taking Calculus 4, Brown recites some words of advice: “Take the tutors’ word, math makes more sense the further you go.”

Brown might major in chemical engineering, but hasn’t decided yet. Meantime, he continues to take challenging courses and seek tutors’ help. “They are very patient [and] if they don’t know how to answer your question, th y will help you find out,” he said.

Students new to the drop-in center can identify tutors by the lanyards they wear. Sometimes, it’s easier to look for the one tutor that looks the most popular: everyone is looking to them for help. Typically, a drop-in student who needs assistance will sit and raise a flag to signal available tutors, much like the flag on a mailbox that holds outgoing mail.

But, who do tutors ask when they have a question?

Anika Baker-Lawrence has been an MHCC tutor for five years and is a lead tutor. As a tutor with more experience, Baker-Lawrence takes responsibility to teach less experienced tutors how to more effectively help students.

“We want to instill in tutors that students are not seeking (merely) answers, but understanding,” said Baker-Lawrence.

With hopes to become a doctor, Baker-Lawrence was in school and volunteered at a medical clinic for four months. She realized she was more interested in working to prevent, than in helping to fix. Now a PSU student, she wants to become a biology professor.

“I’ve seen them (MHCC students) struggle here in the tutoring center and then seen them (attending) PSU,” she said. “It’s a very special moment, a smile of recognition or they’ll come up and ask if I remember them.”

“I always do,” she said.

She tries to help people realize the importance of their education, she said: not just to pass a class, but also to become a lifelong learner.

Next to the drop-in Tutoring Center, its MHCC neighbor and partner in the fight against test anxiety is the Learning Success Center, where students can schedule individual one-hour appointments with a learning specialist.

Megan Jones is a math specialist in her first year at MHCC.

“A lot of people have a math phobia: They think that it’s a small group of people that can (really) do it,” Jones said. She disagrees with this idea and has not seen evidence to support it.

“Some students will maybe flunk their first test, come in here with no confidence, or start in Math 10, but wind up going on to calculus,” Jones said. “It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you put the time in, you can ‘get it.’ ”

Jones’ advice for students to succeed is to give themselves two-to-three hours for studying each week per credit they take. Not being realistic when signing up for classes is a reoccurring problem she sees.

Some other specific steps Jones suggests:

Make an appointment with a learning specialist

Drop into the tutoring center

Do a little bit of homework and studying every day. “Tests are not a one-time thing.”

Use your teacher’s office hours. While tutors are an excellent resource, your teacher knows where you stand, and what is expected for the class. They can assign extra practice specific to what is going on in class.

Attend a Student Success Seminar – a list of seminars is at the bottom of the MHCC library stairs, or you can get a copy at the drop-in tutoring center.

Hours of operation at the Learning Success Center and its drop-in Tutoring Center are: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m to 4 p.m. Friday; noon to 5 p.m. Saturday; and 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday.