Volunteering and Outreach

The Midland NOBCChE Chapter is currently piloting a peer-to-peer tutoring program at the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy in Saginaw, MI.  The program pairs middle schools students who are struggling in their STEM coursework with high school students who act as tutors.  Both the middle school and high school students participating in the program are selected by their respective teachers. The tutors meet with their tutees twice a week for 1 hour.  The middle school students get help with their homework and get to build more confidence in their math and science abilities.  The high school students, mostly juniors and seniors,  get to develop their teaching and communication skills through tutoring and are paid $10/hr for their work, which they can put toward college applications or books as needed.  The high school students are also provided with a STEM mentor, a member of the community working in a science and/or engineering profession.  The high school students meet with their mentor once a month to talk about careers in STEM, applying to college, lab research etc..  Mentors also occasionally drop by tutoring sessions to see how things are going  and to offer advice.  Currently, there are nine middle school students and nine high school students participating in the program with nine mentors from Dow.  Tutoring and mentoring have been taking place virtually over Zoom during the pandemic, but may move to in-person sessions once the public health situation improves.  Should this pilot program be successful, the plan is to extend it to other middle schools and high schools in the Saginaw Public School System.   The overall aim of the program is to increase interest in STEM subjects and STEM careers among students from underrepresented minority groups and disadvantaged economic backgrounds.