A quick disclaimer before I start: No. I’m not trying to exaggerate a mildly interesting, but heart-warming, anecdote to claim myself Skyline Learning Center’s GOAT–even though I most definitely am. In reality, I chose to write about this because I believe community engagement has to be personal and fun… and because I’m yet to be voted as Tutor of the Week, which I think is downright blasphemy and this story proves so.
I joined the Learning Center, formerly known as the Writing Center (sorry math mentors), in my first trimester as a sophomore. When I started tutoring, I was very anxious because I didn’t trust myself enough to not make mistakes. Fortunately for me, my very first tutoring session showed me some things.
I was the only new tutor in the hour, so the first walk-in of the day was assigned to me. “Hello! My name is Diego. What’s your name?” I said as he sat down–he seemed shy and responded with a blunt “Fulanito.” (This is not his actual name, but I will refer to him as “Fulanito” for professional, anonymity reasons). After taking out his Chromebook, I watched as he logged in and I asked what he wanted to work on. He was writing a presentation about himself for an English class.
His presentation was yet to be started, which was no problem, so I started by asking him about his life, interests, and hobbies to break the ice and heaven the idea of something to write in the presentation. Fulanito’s mom was from Mexico and his dad from Guatemala, he has lived in Ann Arbor his entire life, and is fluent in both Spanish and English–which is a blessing because I’m a Mexican immigrant and Spanish is my first language. I mentioned this to him in Spanish, to show that we shared something in common, and to my delight he got visibly interested. From then on, he started to speak more and engage in conversation with me. (Don’t tell Ms. Feliks, but we spent a fair share of the hour talking, making jokes, and bonding over our love for the Center’s snacks.)
The hour ended and Fulanito finished his presentation, but he still had some other work he needed to finish, so I told him that I was in the Center every day at that hour. Fulanito started coming in regularly, he wasn’t the best at doing work in class but having a new friend around seemed to keep him motivated. He taught me a lot about being a tutor as we worked through different subjects, helping me recall material from my freshman year–which I still apply to this day for tutoring underclassmen.
Legend has it, the word eventually got around with the Hispanic community, and soon enough, a wave of Fulanitos flooded the Center. #Networking. It started with one or two asking me to help them translate assignments, but what once was a few sessions now and then, became routine. Almost every day for TWO trimesters I was tutoring one of my fulanitos and even groups at a time. I loved it because I befriended all of them and to this day we still hang out and eat lunch together.
Let me say this in case you haven’t figured it out: If you want to be crowned as “Tutor with the most walk-ins” for two straight trimesters, all you have to do is befriend your tutees and prove to their teachers they are being productive. Being a tutor has been, in many ways, the most fun thing I ever did in high school. This story is evidence of that, and that is the real reason why I decided to share it.
Skyline Learning Center 