Her thoughts were tangled and she did not know where to start. Junior Katie Byrum was writing a paper on Genesis. Struggling with ideas for her paper, she decided to get help at the Academic Skills Center (ASC).
“It’s pretty important for me to be a good student,” said Byrum. “I don’t think you should be afraid of anything that will help you do that.”
Like Byrum, many students frequent the ASC, located on the second floor of Hege library. There they get assistance on assignments, working individually with tutors or participating in study groups with other students.
ASC director and tutor Sue Keith describes the ASC as a hub of all sorts. With services to suit all needs, the ASC is for all students.
“We celebrate voices,” she said. “We help students to learn to read and write in their own voice.”
For help on writing, study skills, reading and time management, students can make an appointment with any of the six professional tutors six days of the week.
“Most (skills) centers have someone like me in charge; however, everybody else is a student. But here you can have the expertise of professionals and students,” she said.
At the ASC, students can also get help from other students at the community of writers (COWs) for help at any stage in a paper.
“Every kind of student enters the world on the second floor of the library,” said Douglas Smith, who has tutored at the ASC for over a decade. “I stand by words, for language saves me.”
Keith explained that her staff tutors out of a sense of community and lives in the possibilities of things getting better. She said that the ASC espouses the notion of a community of learners, adding that we are all in it together.
“What’s not to like?” she said about her job. Keith, who will retire this year, has worked at Guilford for 32 years. “I’ve worked in publishing and public schools but I like this job the most.”
Her job, however, is not an easy one. With every student comes a different assignment and different expectations.
“There is a fine line between doing too much and not enough. We are like coaches; we are not trying to correct somebody making a mistake, we are trying to enable them to do better,” said Keith.
Students often come with papers but not assignments and ask whether their paper will receive an A.
To such questions, she aptly answers, “My crystal ball is broken.”
Keith loves to nurture and help people. She is motivated by the reward of seeing students do better.
“I love being in a classroom, but one on one is really kind of glorious,” she said. “I like the intimacy of that. It’s kind of like an artist seeing his craft work.”
Like Keith, Alternative Learning Specialist Kim Garner loves working at the ASC.
“I can’t say that it’s because of the pay,” said Garner, who makes more money in her part time jobs. “It (my work at the ASC) gives me joy. It allows me to be a ripple in the pond.”
“I can’t change the world in a large way, but I can make a difference,” she said. “That gives me pleasure.”
Garner, sometimes known as “Mom,” counsels and teaches students how to be effective, how to study smarter, and how to play the game.”
She explained that over 20 percent of Guilford students have a learning difference. We also have a higher proportion of Asperger’s Syndrome students than most schools; Guilford has 14, UNCG has one.
Variety keeps the ASC tutors engaged.
Tutor Bill McCarver labels his job as dynamic and each workday as refreshingly spontaneous.
“There is no typical day, other than knowing that whoever walks through the door has a set of issues for which they seek resolution,” he said.
“Aspects of writing issues … have near limitless possibilities. So too, do intellectual ones. Throw into this soup emotional and physical issues–from anxiety to lack of sleep–and the typical week is anything but.”
The ASC does more than just writing. Chemistry students can get help at faculty and student sponsored Chem 911 sessions, while computer-programming students may obtain assistance at Debug sessions.
Students having difficulty in mathematics can get help from Math Professor Jon Hatch, who voluntarily spends about 10 hours each week in the ASC to answer questions for anyone who needs help with a math class.
“I like helping people, I believe that by doing this (they) might start to see math as something other than ‘that evil subject which I hate with every fiber of my being,'” said Hatch. “
“I believe that finding ways to help people also gives me an opportunity to learn how to be a better teacher,” he said.
Last year over 500 students used the services of the ASC. Like many who use the ASC, Byrum received help beyond her expectations.
“It certainly would not have been a good paper without her help,” said Byrum, who was helped by Keith.
“Students leave the ASC thanking us for our great ideas,” said Keith. “What they don’t realize is that they’re not our ideas. They’re their ideas. We just help them put them on paper.