Students gather for after hour tutoring sessions

Following sports practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a group of students consisting mostly of athletes gathers from 7 p.m to 9 p.m in T110, social studies teacher and football coach Douglas Kim’s classroom, for Samo’s biweekly Night Owl Tutoring Session. The program gives students a quiet place to study and receive help on homework after their teachers have left. Nine years ago, Kim developed a tutoring session on Wednesday nights for his freshman football team. From there, the program developed into a biweekly event that is open to all students and provides help for all subjects.According to Kim, the program was created as a means of providing on-campus tutoring for students with after school commitments, particularly athletes who often get out of practice after their teachers have left — sometimes as late as 7 p.m..“I guess that my approach on this is that if a student says 'can I get some help,' the answer should always be yes," Kim said. "Overall, it is really oriented toward any student who walks through that door. I’ve never turned a kid away who wanted to get help.”Although Kim is currently the only teacher in the program, there are also student volunteers who come to help their peers. Tutoring is available for chemistry, biology, English, history and any math up to trigonometry."Coach Kim has done so much for me over my four years at Samo, when he asked me if I had time to help out, there was no way I could say no,"  student volunteer Jordan Detamore ('14) said. "I also enjoy that I am helping students with things that I have struggled with and gone through in the past."According to Kim, during football season or nearing finals week, the attendance sometimes reaches 70 students. Usually, about 60 of these students are football players and about 10-16 are other students looking for help.“By the time I get out of practice every day, it’s almost 5:30 and most of my teachers are gone so I don’t have time to go talk to them if I have a problem," Ruby Baruth ('15) said.  "Even though I didn’t previously know that night owl tutoring exists, I’m glad to know that it is available for me in case I ever need help on anything after practice or even after a game."Athletes in particular can benefit from this program because keeping their grades up determines whether or not they will be able to play.“I decided to go to the tutoring session because I wanted to make sure I could get my work done and football takes a lot of my time. [The tutoring] helped me maintain a decent GPA and helps me balance sports and school,” Kwame Duggins (’14) said.According to Julie Rusk, a parent of two student athletes, having a school day beginning at around seven and ending as late as nine greatly impacts students' ability to get the help and support they need."It would be interesting to see what other alternatives there are that can help students get the support they need," Rusk said. "I think night owl is one good example, but there certainly needs to be a range of ways that students can get that kind of support."According to Kim, some students just need a quiet place to study or an adult to talk to who is not their parent.“When thinking about [how to help students], I sat down and watched kids who struggled through homework and really, it comes down to this: if not me, then who?” Kim said.  friosfetchko@thesamohi.com