SP here. I am really looking forward to my lunch meeting today with all of the rad teachers from the Palos Verdes High School AVID program. Each year during the summer, these awesome teachers (Egan, Whalen, Morales) get together to reflect on the past year. They ask questions like:

What went right?

What could we have done better?

What activities to we need to make more room for?

Which activities and ideas could be eliminated all together?

Certainly the questions and ideas that get bounced around go
much more in depth than these “Level 1” questions (some students are snickering at this), but in actuality, sometimes it is just this casual approach that gets us to the gems.

We are all working together to make sure that the AVID experience is excellent for all students at all levels. We need to make sure that we are meeting the statewide expectations for the program and the curriculum, and we also need to make sure that the goals we set for the students are achieved, and that the activities we decide on and the curriculum we endorse has a direct, positive impact on those goals. Most importantly, we are all looking forward to another amazing AVID year come Fall.

I’ve been a member of the Study Hut team for many years and we do many exciting events, get-
togethers and soirees that help to enhance the overall experience at the Hut. Over the years I remember
several different bonding experiences that aid in the development of relationships at the Hut which
in turn increases students and faculty overall moral. Tie day, Hat day, Ugly sweatshirt parties, Cinco
de Mayo extravaganzas and Cancer walks are just some of the things we do at the Hut to increase the
dynamics and overall flow in the Study Hut community.

All of this interaction allows us to develop the appropriate environment we wish to have at
the Study Hut. We attempt to make the environment at our locations loquacious and positive thus
inundating the students with the vibes necessary for an appropriate learning environment. I happen
to also work at the Sylvan Learning Center once or twice a week and they lack in this area because
the environment at the location I work at is monotonous and mundane which makes learning less
appetizing for all students. They claim that Sylvan is boring and students dislike attending their tutoring
appointments which is far different from the reactions we get at the Hut. We feel that allowing the
tutors and students the chance to interact inside and outside the tutoring environment helps to
separate us from the other corporate tutoring centers.

Study Hut tutors and students tend to get along really well and all of the activities and fun things
we do really help to solidify these relationships. I have become friends with some of the students I’ve
tutored over the years and one in particular I can think of I’ve been tutoring for over four years and
helped him recently get into The University of Arizona and we’re stoked about his accomplishments!

Last weekend Study Hut held its 2^nd free tutoring seminar at West High and Redondo Union High School.   For two hours after school last Friday, and for three hours on Saturday, Study Hut was on campus for free group tutoring coordinated with school administrators.  Over one hundred students from West and over 50 from Redondo came to receive free tutoring with highly specialized tutors.   The students were separated into group by school subjects, ranging the whole high school academic spectrum from geometry to U.S. History; where one to two Study Hut Tutors prepared them for the upcoming finals.   Last time was such a success that teachers at West High rewarded students with extra credit for attending both days.   The best part of the whole event was the great attitude of all the students who came.  They were all eager to receive the help and get the most they could before the all important finals.  We at The Hut would like to thank the helpful staff of both West High and RUHS, our great tutors for their effort, and the all students who came down to make this another great experience.