A new school year brought new changes to one of SHS’s biggest clubs: National Honor Society. The National Honor Society is a national organization founded to promote scholarship, leadership, service, and character.  A major part of being in NHS is tutoring your peers. The premise is that seniors can help other students through classes that they themselves have taken, and students can learn from each other. Each student in NHS is required to complete 6 hours of community service through tutoring, and students tutor in the high school library on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 2:00-2:45. And NHS students truly want to be there.

    Now tutors have lanyards so they are easily recognizable, and they are set up with placards based on what subjects they most enjoy teaching. This ensures that tutors are teaching subjects that they are passionate about and that they know a lot about. Tutors can also collaborate with each other to form  a bigger knowledge base on a subject, providing a bigger resource for students. Tutors ask students directly if they need help, and are available to meet with students one on one on a regular basis. Students and teachers can talk to Ms. Mohr if they’d like to set up a schedule with a regular tutor. NHS tutors can even be connected with elementary school students, a project which is growing this year.

    Tutors can provide fresh ideas and explain things in a different way from the style students are used to. They’ve all been through the classes, and can teach students valuable tips and tricks about how to be successful in them. Senior Katie McCarthy agrees. “It’s a good way to connect upperclassmen with lowerclassmen while still doing something academically invigorating,” McCarthy said. NHS also helps tutors themselves refresh information and learn explanation and teaching skills, and give back to the community which has enriched them.

    School Counselor and NHS advisor Ms. Mohr attests to the value of the two-way learning NHS tutoring promotes. “To see the  tutors working with a table of freshmen laughing and getting work done is a great thing for me because the tutors are mentors too, and I think that’s great,” she said. NHS tutoring is a great way for students to learn from each other and give back to their school.