Northwood’s California Scholarship Federation club expanded its tutoring program this fall, allowing members to tutor before and after school or during tutorial.
With around 50 current tutors, CSF introduced the new system to focus on directly helping Northwood students rather than trying to have a broader, unfocused impact. Teachers can now request specific CSF tutors based on preferred subjects or availability. Members can also directly reach out to teachers to ask if they need assistance.
“We want to first help our own Northwood community rather than going to, for example, Santa Ana,” club president senior George Liu said. “We measure our success on how many lives are impacted rather than how many volunteer hours or cans you’ve donated.”
CSF transitioned last year from broad volunteer events like donation drives to offering more hands-on initiatives, such as providing tutors for the Tutor Center. This was encouraged by CSF advisor Cathleen Zeleski, who noted a need for more in-person, on-demand tutoring in several classrooms.
“Canned food drives are obviously very important, especially to the people who are receiving these donations, but [tutoring] just makes me feel more connected to the program as a whole and makes me feel more like I’m participating,” club underclassman representative junior Lydia Liu said.
CSF’s new board, elected in May, has been planning how to track hours and set up the system to include both the Tutor Center and tutorial. Although the program has only recently begun, George Liu noted positive feedback from students who were matched with CSF tutors.
“[My tutor] helped me understand the content better because I was a little confused when my teacher first explained it to us, and [my tutor] helped me find a way to better understand the periodic table,” freshman Mariya Rizos said. “It was one-on-one, so she could explain what I was stuck on. She explained how to figure it out in different ways and just explained it deeper, which made it easier to learn.”
Upon completing a tutoring session, members can apply for points that count toward acquiring a golden tassel at graduation, signifying their participation in an honors society.
CSF plans to expand the program to include tutoring for AP courses. They also plan to work with English teacher Phil Roh, who oversees the Tutor Center, to create a workshop that trains CSF members to become tutors.
“The potential for the partnership is so great. It really does change the culture of our school when students are helping out,” Roh said. “I think getting CSF people to come here has a culture change for the better in this school.”
For more information on CSF, visit https://sites.google.com/view/csfnorthwood or attend their meetings on the first Wednesday of the month in Room 1022. Students can also text @csf4life to 81010 to join their Remind.
