Struggling in school? There's help

By Gabriel Lefrancois
Special to Summer Forty-Niner

A young woman reads a book behind the counter, flipping the pages as as the minutes slowly pass. The summer months lag behind what is to come.

Although there aren't many people outside, preparation inside the small offices begins to prepare for the handling the many students who will be coming next semester for help.

Cluttered about the walls are job offerings for tutors and postings on the various kinds of assistance students can get on schoolwork.

The Learning Assistance Center, located in Library East, Room 12, provides the support students need in achieving academic success.

Each year, students either neglect the fact they need assistance or do not know they can get help for free or a small fee depending on what tutoring suits them best, say advocates of the center.

"Although college 100 classes speak of our services, students as well as transfer students elsewhere remain unaware of our presents," says Christie L. May, office manager and outreach coordinator. "We want students to take advantage of the services while they are here."

With more then 100 student employees, and always looking for more, the Learning Assistance Center provides help in a number of areas: mathematics, language skills, astronomy, engineering, foreign language and others. According to May, all students workers must have a major or minor in the field they are tutoring and a 3.0 GPA.

Moreover, each year the center helps more than 4,500 people with their schoolwork woes.

"We have a large success rate with the students who come in," May says. "The number of students that come back are astounding. That's how we can tell our service is working."

The Learning Assistance Center offers four major areas of services: learning skills, tutorial services, supplemental instruction and international student conversation lab, according to sources at the center.

Learning skills offers individual and group workshop settings that provide help with time management, effective textbook reading, listening and note taking, memory and test strategies, preparing research papers and planning for finals, according to May.

"We also offer tutorial services in five different areas were students can receive help," May said.

The services include: group tutorials with six or more students meeting twice a week at no cost to the student or drop-in tutoring available on a walk-in basis with a wide range of core subjects for $35 per subject.

"This is our most popular forum for tutoring," May said.

Also included are: community tutoring, which is open to everyone in the Long Beach area from middle school and above; individual appointment tutoring for all students on a fee-supported basis of $65 for five ­ one-hour sessions and online tutoring; a pilot program available to all Cal State Long Beach students who wish to e-mail questions to a tutor, according to May.

"Supplemental instruction offers trained leaders who attend lectures with the student and then review the material, along with presenting study strategies," May said. "This is a good one, but used less often."

International student conversation lab is offered to anyone in which English is a second language. The tutors converse with the individuals about culture, academic, social or political topics of their choice, according to May.

Although many students on campus have not heard about the Learning Assistance Center, the amount grows each year, according to May.

"We give out book markers to remind students that we are here," May says. "There is also a Internet site for students to look over and pamphlets in the library."

Though the success rate for a student is higher than not attending at all, "the student realizes they are educating themselves and the roller coaster doesn't have so many deep valleys," said Patrick J. Mulleavy, learning skills specialist and needs assessment coordinator.

The center wants students to succeed.

"The maturation of a student coming in, not knowing what their problem is and using there skills to see them grow is the best part of my job," Mulleavy says. "Students need to manage their time more efficiently. That is the most important aspect."

The center is open Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m. until noon by appointment.