Students Teaching and Reaching Students, otherwise known as STARS, is a tutoring program run by 11th and 12th grade students. These upperclassmen have the opportunity to volunteer to work with children in grades Kindergarten through Fourth grade. Once or twice a week, these high school students use their study hall to tutor lower school students. For the 2014-2015 school year, twenty three 11th and 12th graders are participating in the STARS tutoring program.

These students assist the lower school students on a wide variety of subjects. From math to secondary level English, as well as crafts and music, something new and fun is always going on in the lower school classrooms. Students may also have the opportunity to help the classroom teachers with grading or other errands. Volunteers receive community service hours, as well, which is a great addition to any college application. Senior and STARS volunteer Deanna Mayo says, “I love working with younger kids, and this is a perfect opportunity!” Not only do the high-school students enjoy this program, the younger students love learning from older role models.

This year, chairman of the program, Colby Kirkpatrick, has instituted several reforms to increase involvement and effectiveness in the program. In previous years, STARS assisted lower school students at Winstead Elementary causing the upper school students to drive off campus to tutor. Now, it is much more convenient for RMA students to simply walk to the assigned classroom on campus, instead of having to drive down the road. Along with this change, students are also paired in two’s when they go to tutor. If one student is absent or unable to tutor that day, this new pairing ensures that there will always be a tutor reporting to each classroom. These new changes to the program will make everything run much more smoothly for both the students and the teachers.

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