NAYONIKAA SINGHAAL
PHOTOGRAPHER
LASMINA IDRIS
STAFF WRITER
10/28/2024
The new Math Help Center is open for visitors from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday nights in room 102 of the Learning Commons.
The Math Center will be working in a similar way to the already existing Writing Center. During working hours any student can come without making an appointment in advance and ask for help.
People having issues with courses such as MTH 111, 112, 116, 121 and 122 will definitely get assistance. Nevertheless, “Students with math questions that are not from those courses are welcome to attend; the tutors may not be specifically prepared for those questions, but they would still be happy to help,” said Bradford Westgate, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science.
While there is a system of student tutors on campus that allows students facing challenges with their classes to get some help individually, the Math Center still has many benefits. For example, a person does not need to go through the long process of requesting a tutor or face a situation when there are no tutors available for a specific class.
The new Math Center can be also pretty helpful for students who do not have systematic problems, but rather one-time misunderstandings. A person can just show up and get help, avoiding any complications.
“The Math Help Center has a community-building aspect. Sometimes there are multiple students attending from the same class. You will be able to learn from other students in your class in addition to the staff, and you will also be able to help other students in your class,” said Westgate.
The student-led help center is not only helpful because it provides for catching up on the studies in a less official, less stressful atmosphere, but also, it creates new job opportunities on campus. Two students, Andrew Benton (‘25) and Joseph Colucci (‘26), are currently working as tutors.
We had a chance to talk to Joseph Colucci and ask him how the hiring process looked for him and how the work has been going so far. The main requirement for getting the job was to have proficiency in all 100-level math courses. But Colucci also had “a strong mathematical background coming from taking advanced-level classes in middle school and AP courses in high school.”
By now, it seems like the work has been going great! “The only challenging part for me is jumping between each student, trying to help them all out when they are all from different classes, and trying to help them out individually, especially when there are a lot of students that show up at once,” said Colucci.
Lately, the Help Center has been getting more recognition. “On average, we expect around 4-6 students to show up per session. It mostly depends on whether an exam is coming up for students in a certain class, or multiple classes. During midterm season, we had 8 students show up one day,” said Colucci.
Technically, the Math Center is still being tested, and depending on the future development, the decision will be finalized. “We have not done anything formally to create a new facility. We are currently having the sessions in the Learning Commons. It is not reserved just for the Math Help Center. If the Center is successful and we decide it would be better to have a reserved space, we will do that,” said Westgate.
The Almanian: News 
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