By EMMA CEPLINSKAS
Need help with homework? A place without distractions? Access to a computer? Then the homework club is the place to go! Starting off its first year at Malden High School, the homework club is created and run by senior Elizabeth Cabral. The homework club provides the perfect environment a typical student would need to do homework. Not only are there tutors who can assist students that need help with homework, there are available computers and a comfortable place for completing work after a day of bustling through crowded hallways to attend several classes.
Cabral’s interest in creating the homework club became known to her after she noticed “that a lot of students weren't really caring about their education [or] reaching their academic potential and [she] felt as if [she] couldn't just sit there and let that happen.” Since this year is Cabral’s last at MHS, she wants “to make a difference, to make some sort of change before [she] leaves the school.” The tutors, including senior Jessica Alexis and Lorenzo Samuel, and Cabral have made a difference so far by improving the grades of students because “most [students that attend the club] go from failing classes to actually passing classes,” stated Cabral. According to member and senior Kevin Noel, the homework club ,which he attends frequently, has especially helped to boost his grade in his English class and he recommends that other students should attend because “the staff is very helpful and they’re the reason [his] grade went up.”
Originally, the club was scheduled to be held in room H207, but it is now held “right next door [in the computer lab] because [MHS is] using [H207] for storage,” explained Cabral. The club meets Tuesday through Friday and runs about two hours a day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Carbal extends club time so that students have more time to complete their assignments. There is a limited amount of tutors as well, so there are times that Cabral and the advisors have to step in to help students as well. Many of the same members have attended the club since it began. They are a mixture of lower and upper classmen but a scarcity of freshmen, which is an aspect Cabral would want to improve. The club is “growing slowly but surely,” beamed Cabral.
Alexis and Samuel are tutors who were interested in the club because they both enjoy helping others. If there was something Samuel would change about the club, it would be to have “more tutors [because] the ratio of students to teachers isn’t equal, so having equal numbers would be helpful so students will not have to wait for help.” However, Alexis would not change anything about the club because she claims “everything is perfect.” Each tutor recommends attending the club, whether to work on homework or become a tutor, because “you can actually focus” said Alexis and “if you enjoy helping people you should tutor,” added Samuel.
There are many features of the homework club that one would enjoy, but Cabral stated, “the thing I love the most is when I see improvement in [students] and see how they're starting to care more for their education.” Member and junior Dirir Mohamed benefitted from the club because he now has “an easy way to get [his] homework done because [when he is at home he] is distracted.” In addition, the club has also benefitted Cabral. “After repeatedly giving advice to members, I started to hear [and use] my own advice and my grades have improved dramatically,” Cabral explained.
Cabral has “a lot more planned [for the club],” which includes trying “to make big differences in the ways the members view their education” and claims she “feels as if the sky's the limit and the homework club can only get better.”
