Claudette Richards, The Whetstone

Freshman year was difficult for sophomore Kelvin Laosebikin.

He said once he used the Wesley’s Academic Resource Center for tutoring sessions, his grades started to improve. His tutor helped in all his classes, especially in writing.

“My tutoring sessions has been very beneficial to me,” Laosebikin said. “It really helped me to grow. At first I felt overwhelmed with the whole college experience. Now I know how to edit my papers myself.”

Sophomore Paige Goodskey, a writing tutor, said she likes helping people.

“I try my best to get the point across to them, saying, ‘Hey this is what you did wrong, this is why you did it wrong, and this what you need to do next time,’” she said.

Goodskey said she offers students tips.

“My biggest advice is to have people read their papers out loud,” she said. “When they do that, they find the little things. They will find spelling mistakes, they will find where they need to put commas, and where there are run-on sentences.”

Tutors are there to help students gain a better grasp of the material, said Christine McDermott, director of student success and retention.

“The idea is that after your freshman year you develop skills that you need,” she said.

Senior Brandon Smith said he doesn’t need the ARC anymore.

During his freshman year, he used the Academic Resource Center for his math class.

“I don’t think I would have passed math freshman year if it wasn’t for the ARC,” he said.

That’s exactly the mission of the ARC, McDermott said.

“Our mission is to get the students from needing us all the time to needing us a little,” she said. “Then, senior year, the students no longer need our services.”

The ARC and academic departments also provide seminars for students to help them with their academics.

“Every semester we have seminars that are available for not only our academics programs that falls in our departments, but for all students in general,” McDermott said.

Junior Momina Toseef, who tutors math, chemistry, and biology, recommends the math seminars.

“If someone is coming to me for math tutoring, and they are having trouble with anxiety, I would recommend those seminars,” she said.