SANTA ANA : Tutoring Program Gets ‘A’ From Pupils

It isn’t always easy for 16-year-old Christian Sanchez to find the right answers to his algebra homework. But finding help is simple.

Since October, the Santa Ana High School junior has received tutoring as part of a new program offered by the Central Library.

The free program provides assistance in English, Spanish and Vietnamese three days each week.

Christian said the program has boosted his grades and improved his understanding of math equations that previously left him mystified.

“Algebra II was difficult for me, so I’m getting help with that and pre-calculus,” he said during a recent study session at the library.

The program “has helped me a lot to raise my grades,” he said. “ I was getting B’s but I wanted A’s.”

Christian is one of about 70 students who fill the quiet upstairs meeting room each week. The students include high school, junior high school and older elementary school students from Santa Ana and nearby cities, said librarian Angie Nguyen.

The program provides two tutors on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4 to 7:45 p.m. The tutors cost the library about $32,000 per year, which library officials say is money well spent.

Aside from offering immediate assistance with school work and study habits, the program makes students more aware of how to use the library as a resource for the rest of their lives, said Nancy Wise, adult services coordinator.

During one recent evening, tutor Juan Castillo, 30, spent his time walking among 13 students and providing help whenever requested.

When one Saddleback High School student asked how to solve a particular geometry equation, Castillo leaned over the student’s table and explained a similar problem instead.

Then he asked, “Do you understand the whole process now?” The student, Abraham Gonzalez, 16, of Santa Ana, nodded and started penciling his way through the original problem with renewed vigor.

“I don’t want to do it for him. I want him to learn,” Castillo said.

Later, Abraham said that trying to get similar individual attention at school can be frustrating because teachers “are always busy, and they always talk to you in a hurry.”

He added that “over here, he talked to me with time, and that’s why I understood it the first time.”

For more information about the program, call (714) 647-5258.