Math tutoring 'adds up' for Edwards CGOs

  • Published
  • By Airman Mike Young
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  After school, instead of playing with other kids, a fifth grade student from the local area opted to go to the Wanda Kirk Rosamond Library to learn math from some of the volunteer tutors. 

Vanessa Olmos usually goes to the library to receive assistance on her mathematics homework from Edwards company grade officers, who volunteer their time and knowledge of math to the local community. 

"The tutoring is great because it helps me understand math," she said. 

The volunteers meet every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 5 to 8 p.m., to help local children with math homework, test preparation and any make-up work they may have. 

The program is currently run by 1st Lt. Wes Persall, a hypersonic flight test engineer with the Hypersonic Flight Test Team. He has been with the tutoring program for the last three years. 

Since that time, Lieutenant Persall has had the chance to witness the program grow from 50 to 100 students receiving help. 

"I help out because it is something to give back to the community," he said. 

For Capt. Grady Tibboel, a test engineer with the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron, tutoring is a chance to help kids succeed in school. He has been working with the children weekly for the last two years. 

Captain Tibboel's goal as a tutor is to make sure students understand the concepts that apply to what they're working on, he said. 

"A secondary goal is to make math not scary," Captain Tibboel said. "Because really, it's not. It is just another perception problem." 

Currently, there are about 20 people volunteering at least an hour per week, Lieutenant Persall said. Most of the volunteers are engineers, but anyone who wants to volunteer can help. 

"When volunteers come in, we will pair them with the skill level they are most comfortable with," he said. 

The volunteers usually give about an hour of tutoring time. There are three blocks per day so when the first tutor comes in, they are usually traded off after an hour, unless they want to stay longer. 

The majority of those being tutored are kindergarten through 12th grade, but the tutoring is not limited to children, Lieutenant Persall said. Adults are also welcome. 

"The program is beneficial because in many cases people can't afford the personalized attention required to really grasp the concepts," Lieutenant Persall said. 

Despite the importance of education to individuals in the community, schools are clearly under-funded, Captain Tibboel said. In many cases, teachers don't have the opportunity to give the individual attention that students need. 

For the program to be where it is today, helping so many kids takes a lot of support, Lieutenant Persall said. 

"I truly appreciate all of my volunteers putting others before themselves," he said.
Support also comes from the Wanda Kirk library, Captain Tibboel said. They provide a great location for tutoring. 

"The most gratifying parts of volunteering are when the person comes back happy after passing their test or a thank you from the parent because their kids are doing better in school," Lieutenant Persall said.