ROP Career Center brought to life by Wildcat student tutors

By TATUM MAPES and AKUL GUPTA

The ROP Career Center at Redlands East Valley High School

The ROP Career Center prides itself on the achievements of those who step in through their door. The success of many Redlands East Valley students is due to the determination and helpfulness of the Career Center tutors. Mrs. Quesada, who runs the Career Center, submitted the profiles of many tutors to ETHIC.

Alex Kristoffersen, a senior who tutors in math, chemistry, biology and Spanish, “really headed off the tutoring program” this year, according to Quesada. Kristoffersen would like to give thanks “to all the tutors’ great work, the tutorees’ continued willingness to learn and Mrs. Quesada’s fantastic leadership and organization. I am proud to say that the Career Center has grown to be a beneficial and useful tool to the student community here at REV.”

Daniel Najera Cordon “comes everyday into the Career Center, and is always very respectful and willing to learn.” In her REVWAY Student of the Month Nomination Letter, Mrs. Quesada said she wanted to nominate him “due to his strong work ethic and for sticking with APUSH, even while learning a second language.”

Kevin Bahn is a Peer Tutor who has been in the Career Center since he was a freshman. Kevin, now a junior, prefers to tutor in math and chemistry. His main goal is to help people who don’t understand their material.

Nayelli Bermudez has been a math and Spanish tutor for two years. She likes the fact that she can teach someone how to do something, and, in return, she can study and learn at the same time. Plus, she gets community service hours.

Amelia Campos likes being a tutor because she thinks she has the ability to help others. As a math tutor, she loves to help students understand concepts. She believes that interaction with other students will help them in a positive way.

Xinyi (Heidi) Chang has been a math tutor in the Career Center throughout all four years of high school. According to Quesada, “She is awesome and is always willing to help all students and learn new material. Heidi will be missed when she moves on to college.” According to Xinyi, “I am so happy when some students show me their grades, and there is an improvement. Most of the students I taught said that I am better than their teachers!”

Matthew Charumattanont is debating on becoming a teacher. If he decides to, tutoring will allow him to already have a taste of teaching. As a math tutor, helping another student understand something helps him better understand the subject himself.

Jason De Leon feels it is fun to help kids. He also wants to help those who struggle learning under pressure and have a hard time understanding teachers as he once had. Jason likes tutoring math and Spanish.

Xiomara Flores feels that becoming a Career Center tutor is a great opportunity to complete her community service hours for AVID and National Honors Society.

Matthew Mikhailov says that tutoring is a “fun and quantifiable way to help the community” and that it is “rewarding to see students begin to understand what they’re having trouble with.”

Akul Gupta is a freshman and wants to “enable other students to achieve academic success so that they can fulfill their aspirations.”

Rana Mahmood says, “I want to help people with the subjects people usually have problems with. During class, people would often come up to me asking for help. I felt good trying to do this. If I could help someone, that’s a good thing.”

Nga Nguyen (11), one of the tutors at the REV Career Center

Nga Nguyen enjoyed helping her friends with their homework. “I decided that I’d like to reach out and help other people too. I also had the privilege of taking Advanced Placement Calculus last year, so I would like to help people if I can.”

Aaron Hill wants to use what he has learned to help struggling students. “It’s always interesting to see how much or how little help a student needs. I remember once, I was working on math with a student. He couldn’t complete a single problem from his homework, until I mentioned a simple concept. From that point on, he understood every problem perfectly. Sometimes, all people need is just one piece of advice or one example, and they can overcome their own roadblocks.”

Brian Suarsana tutored in middle school and he loved it, so he figures he could get community service hours while enjoying himself on top of it.

Kevin Zhang says he wants to start helping people, and he believes that the best thing for him is to help academically. “Tutoring seems to be a natural choice,” he says.

These are only a few of the many tutors working in the Career Center. All of them have the sincere desire to help peers succeed in subjects they struggle with. Other peer tutors praised by Mrs. Quesada are listed below.

Stephanie Lamas

Kevin Bahn

Sai Hosuru

Bindhu Hosuru

Taylor Gonzales

Kayla Frencher

Laverne Clerk

Caleb Loomis

Joey Maya

Precious Mejia

Elijah Park

Diana Reyman