Student athletes can look forward to a new tutoring program called the Academic Athletic Achievement on campus, Tony Barbone, athletic director said.
It was the vision of former Health Science and Athletics division dean Dr. Irv Drew, who worked on similar programs at other colleges, Barbone said. With the help of Basketball coach Michael Fenison, he began collaborating idea with the Learning Resource Center.
“He has a real passion for helping kids, and that’s how the thing kind of started last year,” Barbone said.
In the AAA program, student athletes are assessed whether or not they will be put into the tutoring program based on their placement test scores, Barbone said.
But any student athlete, not just the ones assigned, can take advantage of the program.
Barbone said there are two key goals that he wants to achieve from this program.
He wants to help students with academic accountability and creating a safe environment for them to understand the subject they are having difficulty with.
The athletes are identified by their placement tests and then assigned a certain amount of tutoring hours per week.
The student’s hours will be monitored on a weekly basis by their head coach and the athletic director at the Learning Resource Center, Barbone said.
“It’s important for the coaches to be a part of the follow up, and be a part of the reinforcement,” Barbone said.
Helping Barbone to reach these goals is Matt Engle. Engle will become the main athletic tutor, and is a former EC graduate and attended UC Davis, Barbone said.
“He’s been a student athlete, so he knows the trials and tribulations,” Barbone said. “His heart’s enormous. He cares about people.”
When Engle was asked by Barbone to be an athletic tutor, he accepted immediately, and began taking the Learning Resource Center’s internationally certified tutoring program, Engle said.
By the time the AAA program begins, Engle will be certified and ready to tutor.
“Due to class sizes and teacher’s office hours, there are either schedule conflicts, or they have multiple students coming in,” Engle said. “Teacher’s can’t cover that one on one attention that a lot of students need, and that’s where the tutor comes in.”
Student athletes aren’t just limited to Engle. This program is an extension of the Learning Resource Center, and the same tutors that help with walk-ins and private student tutoring are available to athletes as well, Barbone said.
In collaboration with the Learning Resource Center, Barbone hopes to build a place where student athletes can feel comfortable learning difficult subjects, and continue to grow academically, Barbone said.
“I’m excited to see what can happen,” Barbone said. “I’m anxious to watch our athletes continue to grow and give themselves the opportunity to be involved in this great program.”