Yawning. Stretching. Sighing. Stressing. These are all common among students and teachers who have to deal with the new virtual school year. Since the beginning of August, Parkway has announced that school will be held virtually due to the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 in the St. Louis area, making it unsafe for students and staff to hold school in-person. Students and staff had to adapt to these sudden changes to sustain a decent education at home.

North staff members are aware that there are possible issues that may arise, such as falling behind in class, time management or misunderstandings of subjects; therefore, math teacher Dr. Wendy Freebersyser, along with many other teachers ranging from different subjects, teamed up together to find student tutors to help guide troubled students through this very difficult time.

“What we have done is created a structure for tutors and learners to get paired up,” said Dr. Freebersyser, “we are providing virtual space for the tutoring sessions. We have on-demand tutor zoom links so that tutors and learners can meet and work in break-out rooms.”

Student tutors are available for students. In order to request a tutor, one could ask their teachers to request a tutor. Another way a student may request a tutor is by filling out a survey on North’s website or by completing the survey link which is emailed every Friday. If one would like to become a tutor to help a student or gain tutoring hours for clubs and organizations, they also fill out a survey on the website to sign up.

“There’s a lot of benefits to getting a tutor. You’re at home anyways, and you can pretty much pick any time of the day that suits you best. There are hundreds of tutors who can help you do better, and when you’re struggling in a class, getting even one extra tutoring session could help make or break your grade,” said junior Sam Miller, who tutored a couple of students since the beginning of this school year.

Before school started, there were already more than 50 students interested in becoming a tutor for this school year.

“I [was] engaged in conversations with Logan Liguore, the student body president. We brainstormed and his insight and connections with students really made the whole thing work,” said Dr. Freebersyser. “I was amazed and overwhelmed with the students’ response and support to jump in and help figure out a structure on the fly. The students at North are amazing and are solely responsible for creating the culture of care and help that you see shining through this process.”

The tutor zoom rooms are opened in the mornings from 8:30 a.m to 9:30 a.m, afternoons form 2:45 p.m to 3:45 p.m, and for support lab on Wednesdays, it is opened from 11:30 a.m to 12:25 p.m. Zoom links are located on the North’s website, under “School News”.