FGCU students learn a little by tutoring middle-schoolers

NAPLES — Christopher Hatwell wishes he could go back and tell his sixth-grade teacher, “Sorry.”

After 10 weeks tutoring middle school students through a college class, Hatwell, 35, not only remembers what it was like being in middle school, but saw it through new eyes.

“I gained a lot of respect for the teachers,” Hatwell said. “(Students) are putting forth a lot of effort. After not being in school for a long time, you think ‘Oh, they’re not trying.’ But they are — not everyone gets it the first time.”

While Hatwell gained a newfound appreciation for the labyrinth of middle school learning, he also helped a student, 13-year-old Michelle Ramirez advance her science skills.

“It was OK,” Michelle said bashfully.

Classmate Blanca Ledesma, 11, a fellow sixth-grader, piped up.

“I’m passing science,” said Blanca. “I had an ‘F’ and now I have a ‘C.’”

Ten weeks ago, Ledesma said she wanted to get “smarter” in science. She did just that, she said.

But Bonita Springs Middle School Principal Ruthie Lohmeyer never had any doubt about the intelligence of the 34 students receiving tutoring from about as many Florida Gulf Coast University students. It was all about confidence and the tools to learn, she said.

FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw attended a final ceremony for the tutoring program Tuesday at Bonita Middle, helping hand out certificates to both sets of students, shaking their hands and encouraging them to aspire to reach higher learning and attend college.

“It’s important that you learn how to learn,” Bradshaw said to the middle school students. “Because in college we expect you to learn outside the classroom.”

Aside from picking up newfound skills, many of the students found self-confidence that may have been lying below the surface 10 weeks ago. Having a role model who is an adult, but still close in age, went a long way toward bolstering the egos of the middle school students, said Adjunct Professor Wayne Robinson. He teaches the civic engagement class that paired the FGCU students with middle school students.

Foundations of Civic Engagement is a required course at FGCU, part of a graduation requirement to earn 80 volunteer hours, but each professor takes a different tack. Through a chance meeting with Lohmeyer, Robinson brought the tutoring program to Bonita Middle School for the first time this semester. At Tuesday’s celebration, Lohmeyer asked Robinson to return with another group of students next spring.

The start may not have felt so auspicious, though. At the first session, both the tutors and the students were as nervous as kids on the first day of school. No one knew what to expect. Everyone felt a little awkward.

Stevie Fiorito, a student originally from Long Island, N.Y., hardly knew what to talk about with her student at first. By Tuesday, they were joking around as everyone shared good-byes.

“I was expecting to tutor a bigger group,” said Fiorito, 20. “I’m kind of glad it was with one student, because you got to know them one-on-one.”

Fiorito tutored her student in history, but the exchange was hardly one-sided. Fiorito loves kids, she said, and plans to use her psychology degree to work with children. Her tutoring experience helped reaffirm that, she said.

Lohmeyer is already seeing the positive effects of tutoring among her 34 students.

“With the Bonita Middle kids in here, attendance has increased, attitude has increased, and grades have gone up,” said Lohmeyer. “And what do you think decreased? The number of office referrals.”

The tutoring sessions were the carrot at the end of a stick, said math and reading teacher Katrina Gunnels.

“A lot of (students) were very excited about it,” she said. “At first there was a lot of apprehension.”

After just a couple of sessions though, Gunnels’ said, students would ask nearly every day when their next tutoring session took place. Like teachers across the school, Gunnels was tapped to hand-pick a few students who could use some extra attention. Some of her students are examples of how the program worked in surprising ways.

“For me, I asked for math tutors because I had students at such diversity levels,” said Gunnels. “My high-end students are ready to move on while the rest of the class is still on something.”

By pairing those fast-learning students with other math whizzes, Gunnels said, her students advanced a little more each session, rather than spinning their wheels in class while waiting to move on to the next subject. She said she can tell a difference in those students anecdotally, but looks forward to the release of Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test scores in early summer to verify the positive effects of the tutoring.

Gunnels and the other teachers who participated got certificates, just like the students.

Recognizing everyone’s participation was a vital part of the program in order to reinforce the positive impacts, Robinson said.

“I hope it’s a token of what we’re trying to teach them,” said Robinson, “which is that the communities in America run on volunteers.”