Eating clubs help local students with SATs

After three months of reviewing SAT vocabulary tricks and trigonometry lessons, participants in the University's chapter of Let's Get Ready (LGR) — an student-run college prep and SAT tutoring program — held its last meeting Sunday.

Princeton's chapter, the largest of the 14 university chapters participating in LGR, was founded this year by the Interclub Council (ICC) and supported by all 11 eating clubs.

Fifty University students gathered in Frist each week to coach 90 local high schoolers, who were targeted for their interest in attending college and their financial need.

"I think it's just an amazing program," ICC president Jamal Motlagh '06 said. "It's a great way for University students and members of eating clubs to give back and show one of the many positive sides of the eating clubs."

Coordinators of the program were impressed with the results.

"We've come amazingly far this semester," said Megan Jaye '06, who coordinates LGR with Max Jan '07. "For the first diagnostic [test], the average SAT score was about 900 out of 2400...after the second diagnostic, the average score improvement was 250 points. One girl improved by 945."

Throughout the program, University and high school students reviewed test-taking skills, worked on college applications, reviewed financial aid options and talked about daily life at universities.

"Just the idea of them being here on campus and talking really positively about college and telling them it was in their reach got them to put in the effort," said Vidal Sadaka '06, the math coordinator for the program.

Some tutors altered the material to make it more enjoyable for their students. Dean Gill '06, an LGR tutor and president of Campus Club, made word problems about football and shopping to make the material more interesting for his class of five students.

"As a mentor and as a friend, a big part of making classes successful is connecting with [students] not just on the level of a teacher ... If they see you have a lot of interest in them and are willing to put in the work, they will be more motivated," Gill said.

Many tutors gained satisfaction from knowing they had made a difference in the students' lives.

"I think the biggest thing was that I would teach kids the math and they would actually tell me that I was a better math teacher than they'd ever had. It shows something about the U.S. public school system," said James Yang '06, math coach.

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Loretta Talkpa, Melodia Julliett and Magdalena Dorvil, juniors from Steinert High School in Hamilton, were three of the 16 students from their school given the opportunity to take part in the LGR program.

The three were chosen because of their performance in school and their inability to pay for expensive prep courses.

"My mom was so shocked at first. She said, 'you don't have to pay $800 for Kaplan and you get taught by Princeton students? Go for it!' Every Sunday she made sure I was here," Julliett said.

The three girls, who had never taken the SAT or opened a preparation book, described their first diagnostic test in the LGR program as "long, cold and boring."

"I felt so unprepared because there was no SAT prep class at school...the first [test], I guessed on so many questions because I felt like I couldn't leave them blank," Dorvil said. "Now, I can apply the skills I learned."

"It gave me the chance to get the feeling of what the other kids at school who could afford SAT prep courses were going through," she added.

Many families rearranged their schedules, leaving church prematurely or attending earlier services in order to have their children get to the bus on time to come to SAT prep.

"At first I dreaded coming because I didn't know what to expect, and I didn't want to spend my whole Sunday. Later, I couldn't wait to come here every Sunday," Talkpa said.

High school sophomore Charles Everett Sloan El Lancaster of West Windsor Plainsboro High School South was encouraged to attend after his friend's aunt heard about the program through her church.

"I expected that we wouldn't learn as much because our school is good, but they taught us a lot, and it was worth it," El Lancaster said.

The Princeton LGR program was the brainchild of JW Victor '05, former ICC president, who wanted to find more ways for the eating clubs to participate in community service.

In the future, Motlagh, Jan and Jaye hope to make the program even bigger, offering classes on Saturdays, allowing underclassman to tutor and increasing the number of high school students participating.

The Princeton Prospect Foundation sponsored the program, and last week extended the program for two additional years, Motlagh said.