Sigma Chi Fraternity Starts Tutoring Program For Children
The tutors, students from Texas A&M, are mostly members of the Sigma Chi fraternity who have found a rewarding way to academically and emotionally invest in the Bryan-College Station community.
As 7 p.m. nears on Wednesday evening, mostly elementary and middle school students and tutors begin to arrive at Churchill Baptist Church with smiles on their faces that indicates their excitement to be there. The tutors, students from Texas A&M, are mostly members of the Sigma Chi fraternity who have found a rewarding way to academically and emotionally invest in the Bryan-College Station community.
“Two years ago, in the spring of 2009, Carl Gerkin and Detrick Eaton had the idea to do this, so Paul came to our fraternity and said let’s do this. At first it was just one night a week, on Wednesdays, for an hour. Since I’ve taken over, we’ve expanded to two nights a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, at two different locations,” said Miles Dunklin, a senior business major.
Dunklin is responsible for the current participation of the members of Sigma Chi in conjunction with 99 Tutors in order to reach to students in the communities of Bryan and College Station and offer free tutoring.
“The students have grown attached to the fraternity members,” said Detrick Eaton, the president of 99Tutors. “They not only help them academically but also by mentoring them. The grades of the younger students have improved as well as them personally because the guys aren’t just tutoring them but showing them how to be better people.”
The time that the members of Sigma Chi spend with the students they tutor is not limited to the specified tutoring sessions.
“The main thing is that once you go back a couple of times, you form a connection with the kids, so we started making it more than just tutoring. We bought tickets to the Iowa State vs. Texas A&M basketball game and all went. We had a great time. I want to do more things like that cause we know the kids there,” Dunklin said.
The members of this tutoring group have found that it is personally rewarding to help the students in the community.
“I’ve been doing this since last semester, starting at the other location and then going here for the last couple of weeks,” said Will Conrad, a freshman general studies major. “Helping a kid understand a concept for the first time is a sense of accomplishment for both of us. For them because they can understand something new and for you because you helped someone.”
Though the Sigma Chi fraternity and Detrick Eaton initiated this volunteer tutoring group, it is not restricted to the participation of only Sigma Chi members or others in the Greek community.
This tutoring initiative is open to all students and is not exclusive. Dunklin said he hopes that it might someday become a long-term organization on campus.
“Nothing would thrill me more than to come back in five years and see that it has been sustained and hopefully expanded to reach as many kids as possible,” Dunklin said.
