Sasha Hull
Lantern Staff
Butler offers a multitude of scholarships to students every semester for academics, activities and athletics. These books and tuition scholarships assist students by allowing them to pay a fraction of their initial costs. While the various activities scholarships all offer the same maximum amount of award, some require more time commitments than others.
One debate many Butler students face is if the activity scholarship they are apart of is worth it. Are a majority of these scholarships helping studies, or hindering them and is it fair to those who are put into stressful situations even though they are being financially supported?
A less known scholarship offered is for Butler’s tutoring center. Books and tuition scholarships are available to student tutors. This scholarship requires its recipients to log at least 15 hours a week in the tutoring center and attend meetings related to the program.
Sophomore Zachary Stewart is currently in his second semester on scholarship for the tutoring center.
“I think it’s helping a lot actually,” Stewart said. “I only pay student fees, and I get to learn how to tutor people and I get that experience, on top of that there’s downtime to do homework.”
For Stewart and the rest of the tutoring center, the busiest days are when either the math or anatomy and physiology labs are closed or when particular faculty come in to assist students.
“It can be especially on days like this when we have science people coming in for Ms. [Kim] Karr, but for the most part it’s not, on Tuesdays or Thursdays is when it can get chaotic,” Stewart said.
However, at times, students visit the lab for a quiet place to study. The tutoring lab is outfitted with many computers and room to sit in a focused learning environment to finish homework or study for exams.
Student tutors can choose the hours they work, completing all 15 throughout the week or over just a few days. While the time commitment could put stress on students, the freedom to choose their hours and are able to complete additional school work during that time.
Butler is currently without an academic coach who is also the coordinator of tutoring. Crystal Aluko, who was previously in the position, left in January. This position is being expanded to encompass and help more students by adding a focus on English and working more closely with the athletic academic support at Butler. Phil Speary, dean of Academic Support Services, and Theresa Pacitti, administrative assistant of the same division, are currently reworking and stepping in to help manage the tutoring center and replace the academic coach during this time.
“Often times students think you only go for tutoring when you’re really in trouble or really struggling and if someone is really struggling then absolutely it’s a good thing to take advantage of, but it really I think is very valuable to all students at any level,” Speary said.
Butler’s tutoring center is located in the 1500 building, Room 15-124 in El Dorado and 5000 building, Student Union Room 5202U in Andover.