Posted on July - 12 - 2010
Peer Power Foundation puts high achievers to work tutoring their classmates
Photo by Brandon Dill // Buy this photo
Wearing a blindfold, Darren Gibson, 15, works his way through an obstacle course Monday with help from Ray Braxton Jr., 15, (left) and Angelica Ibezim, 21, during training for the Peer Power tutor program at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis.
Sixty students from five inner-city schools are the newest foot soldiers in businessman Charles McVean’s fight against school failure.
They’ve enlisted with the Peer Power Foundation, which trains and pays high-achieving students to serve as tutors for their classmates.
Photo by Brandon Dill
Buy this photo »
Peer Power trainee Brianna Tate, 16, can’t help but laugh as she tries to pass a hula hoop over her body with help from Rhyan Burks (left), 15, and Irvin Mull (right), 16.
After intensive academic and leadership training, which began Monday at the University of Memphis, they’ll join 100 other high school and college students earning $10 to $12 an hour as tutors in the Peer Power program.
McVean, an East High graduate who made a fortune trading commodities and futures, started the program at his alma mater six years ago.
He was not on hand for an opening session at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis, but program veterans quoted McVean liberally.
“The world is competitive,” said Cortney Richardson, 20, a U of M senior majoring in organizational leadership, who started tutoring as a sophomore at East. “Mr. McVean wanted to bring that competition into academics.
“We knew our school needed help. We asked what we could do. They made it clear how much power the upper end of the inner-city youth had to help the others. That upper end has made a change not only at East High but at other schools in the city.”
Peer Power Foundation director Bill Sehnert said the program gives incentive for bright students to achieve mastery of subject areas and share it with others.
“It makes more sense for them to work as tutors than to go to work at a burger place,” Sehnert said.
A fringe benefit is typically higher scores on college entrance tests, which translates into larger scholarship awards. Tutors have increased ACT scores 15-20 percent, Sehnert said.
After beginning at East, it has spread to Whitehaven, Northside, Westwood and, new for the 2010-11 school year, Manassas High. It has been picked up in the Mississippi communities of Shelby and Como.
Officials from Pontotoc-based Three Rivers Planning and Development District attended Monday’s event to evaluate Peer Power’s applicability to grooming a skilled work force.
“The idea of using your peers to help tutor our students and to pay the tutors for that service is just a very exciting concept to me and one that I believe will bring additional success to our students in North Mississippi,” said Three Rivers official Bill Renick.
Sehnert said the program reaches about a dozen schools including middle schools, and has another half-dozen waiting for expansion, when funds can be found.
Manassas junior Will Redmond, 16, is glad a teacher recommended him for Peer Power.
“It’s a good way for me to help others and get better as a student myself,” he said. “We need more tutors at Manassas.”
Whitehaven High principal Vincent Hunter said Peer Power has clearly made a difference. Scores on standardized math and writing tests have increased significantly.
“The data speaks for itself,” said Hunter. “It was utilizing the resources we had in our building: the children who were already excelling.”
–Wayne Risher: 529-2874
Peer Power
Purpose: To employ and train high school- and college-aged tutors to provide individual attention for academically struggling students
Impact: Assisted more than 1,000 students in the past year
Founder: Businessman Charles McVean at his alma mater, East High School, six years ago
Online: peerpowerfoundation.org
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