Students Reflect on the Academy’s Nightly Learning Center

By ISABEL EVANS, ALLEGRA LAI, and ADELLE PITTS

The Learning Center is an important resource for students’ learning that provides Exonians with extra help on their academics. Open from 7:00 - 9:15 p.m. on Monday through Thursday nights, students and teachers alike come to tutor students in multiple subjects including languages, writing, and STEM. The location of the Learning Center has changed over the years, previously taking place in various rooms in Phillips Hall. The Learning Center is currently hosted on the Class of 1945 Library’s ground floor, with many still adjusting to this change. 

Students have volunteered their time to be peer tutors, motivated by their own experiences at the Learning Center as lowerclassmen. “I had Ms. Moriarty as my English teacher during my winter term of my lower year. She is the wonderful director of The Learning Center, so it was through her that I decided to be a peer tutor and help my peers in writing, drawing from the tools and techniques I had gained from within the classroom,” shared senior and Head Writing Proctor Parmis Mokhtari-Dizaji. “Being a Head Proctor in the Writing Center, I have taken what I learned from Ms. Moriarty’s class and used it to help my fellow peers with their writing, creating a cycle of support and mentorship here at Exeter, following the saying ‘The best way to learn is to teach,’”

“I just wanted to help other students who might need help in a subject. In my prep year, I found the learning center very helpful, so I decided to be a peer tutor in my lower year,” Upper Stella Song agreed.  

Being a peer tutor offers students additional practice and a deeper understanding of a topic that comes with teaching it to others. Upper Laura Saldarriaga said, “I’ve been a peer tutor since my prep year, and at first, I started with Spanish. I thought that it would be a good way to practice it while also helping people learn it, and now, I also sometimes do Latin tutoring.”

“When students don’t have the opportunity to meet with their teacher or need even more support, the Learning Center is almost always able to provide that additional support, and having peers explain advanced concepts in more simple terminology can help students learn,” Lower Avaninder Bhaghayath added. 

The process of becoming a peer tutor is fairly simple. This year, students had to fill out an application and specify the dates and times they are available, allowing for flexibility with students’ busy schedules. Additionally, they were required to attend training and informational sessions hosted by current peer tutors. Mokhtari-Dizaji described it as “a very welcoming process, and the Learning Center has been exceptionally flexible in accommodating peer proctors.”

Both Peer Tutors and faculty agree that the Learning Center can provide help outside the classroom that is more curated specifically to the student. Wes LaFountain, a faculty at the Writing Center, said, “The one-on-one aspect allows students to concentrate on that part of the assignment that they feel the need to focus on, in an open-ended environment with a fixed time limit. It’s an opportunity to brainstorm new ideas or edit existing ones, either based on in-class feedback or the student’s own inclination. It’s students taking the initiative to make, in most cases, good work better. The student has time to reflect, with feedback.” 

Prep Daniel Chen also appreciated the personalized help that the Writing Center provides. “I feel like the tutors at the Learning Center, and at the Writing Center especially, don’t really help you write, but rather, they guide you,” he said. “You tell them what you want to improve on and what the teacher is looking for, but it’s still you doing the writing.” 

Song added, “I think it’s helpful to offer a peer perspective because you’re learning something from a student that has either taken the class before or is very proficient in the subject. Sometimes that can be more accessible than a teacher’s perspective, and it’s also fun to work with other students on problems.”

Students and teachers have varying perspectives on the new location. Upper Sofia Wang said, “I feel like the library is a bad location because it’s so noisy and the tables are so small.” On any given night, the small circular tables are crowded, especially around the math table(s). 

Due to the range of skill levels at the math tables, there is often a long line of people waiting. The current process seems inefficient to some students. Prep Justine Chen stated, “It’s just not efficient, especially when a lot of people want to get help for STEM and math. There are a lot of people who go later and need to wait a long time until others are finished.” 

However, other students and faculty have opposing opinions. Bhaghayath said he “thinks the Learning Center is efficient and has all of the resources and structures in place for it to be a great addition to in-class lessons.” 

Some members of the community also think that the Learning Center’s new location is better than the old one. LaFountain stated, “For me, any improvement has been the facility – I like the sort of ‘neutral academic territory’ that the library represents, as opposed to the classroom vibe, where students already spend a lot of organized time.” 

“It’s a natural fit in many ways for the Learning Centers to be housed in the Library, and I’ve been grateful to Ms. Wood, Ms. Rohloff, and the rest of the library staff for being such gracious hosts to us,” agreed Instructor in English Genny Moriarty, the Director of the Learning Center. “I think they’ve been pleased at the number of students coming in to use the library even when the centers are closed. While we may still have some fine-tuning to do, particularly in terms of managing volume on busy nights and balancing the needs of students eager to collaborate with those in need of quiet study spaces, I’m really pleased at how well we’ve been able to partner with one another to extend learning outside the classroom,” 

“There is always room for growth, and this is one area where I’d like to improve. There are nights in which the STEM Center gets very busy, for example, and I’m hoping to add more math tutors down the road so that we can adequately meet students’ needs,” continued Moriarty. “And because our wonderful Peer Tutors are volunteers with busy schedules of their own, we do occasionally feel short-staffed when scheduling conflicts create gaps in coverage. We are looking into ways of handling the waiting times and hope to see some improvements in that area soon! In the meantime, I’ll keep encouraging younger students to use the center from 7-8 and older students to use it from 8 - 9:15 in order to avoid bottlenecking.”

This new location gives students a break from the classrooms, but it seems to pose a problem in terms of efficiency and space, as stated by J. Chen and Wang.

Additionally, many people have expressed opinions that more students should come to the Learning Center. Saldarriaga said, “With the languages, not a lot of people go because language takes a lot of time and it requires more memorization as opposed to other topics where you need somebody to look over your paper. But I think it’s a helpful resource and having somebody explain it to you one-on-one, especially if you don’t get a concept.”

Chen agreed that visiting the Learning Center can have great benefits, and more students should consider showing up. “Each day there are eight spots in the Writing Center, and it’s usually not even full. I feel like there are definitely more people who are missing out on the opportunity.”

The Learning Center is not only a treasured space for extra academic support, but a space for Exonians to connect with faculty and other peers. “For students seeking help, it provides a supportive environment that encourages independent problem-solving. On the flip side, the peer tutoring system at the Learning Center helps students who offer support by enhancing their understanding. Developing the skill of applying one’s knowledge while working collaboratively with others is valuable, and I believe the peer tutoring system and the Learning Center really help foster this skill,” Mokhtari-Dizaji said. “I’ve built strong connections with the other proctors on duty with me, and the support we get from the Learning Center has been really helpful. It feels like we are all a big family!”