LAKEPORT — The Lake County Friends of Mendocino College (LCFMC), an affiliate of the new Mendocino College Foundation, Inc., donated $2,000 to support tutoring services at the new Mendocino College Lake Center.
Tutoring services have been provided to Mendocino College students in Lake County in the past, but the funding to support such programs has not always been guaranteed.
“This money will allow us to manage tutoring services and pay tutors from our own budget,” Arlene Peters, center operations supervisor at the Lake Center, said.
The Lake Center staff plan to expand existing services to provide more tutoring opportunities to more students with the funds. It has often been difficult to find tutors at the Lake Center, but staff hopes this support will bring new momentum to the existing tutoring program and create awareness of this valuable service provided to students at no cost, according to Peters.
“Sometimes students come in for tutoring thinking that there is no way to understand their assignment.” Lake Center tutor Janita Hansen said. “After a tutoring session, they realize they can do it. There is nothing like the feeling of being able to help someone do something successfully. It makes me want to always do this work.”
Tutoring services allow students to participate in one-on-one interaction, which generates student success. Both tutors and tutees benefit from this, Hansen stated.
“As tutors work with students, I see them grow. They reinforce their learning and gain confidence as leaders in the college community,” Janet Daughtery, learning center assistant of the Ukiah campus, said.
The LCFMC was created in 2011 as an affiliate of the Mendocino College Foundation to establish partnerships with existing organizations in Lake County with a mission and activities consistent with its goals and purposes. The members of its governing council are community leaders in education, business and civic endeavors in Lake County.
Fundraising activities of the LCFMC include the Professional Pianists Concert held annually in the spring at the Soper Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport. Donations match community support for student scholarships, the Adopt-a-Fifth-Grader program and Academic Decathlon.
For information about LCFMC, call Wilda Shock at 263-7575.
For information about tutoring services at Mendocino College, call Sarah Walsh at 468-3122.
