Santa Fe has always had mandated help during advisory; however, new this year is a student-led program called the Academic After-School Program (AASP) to offer academic support to students.
Senior Alizeh Qazi is the administrative director and founder of AASP. Her experiences with testing inspired her to create a program to help other students.
“Last year I realized the ACT prep class was only one hour of the day, and so many people need ACT help but can’t take it because of other classes they want to take,” Qazi said. “I was like I can start this little program during advisory and people can come and get ACT prep, but it went in a different direction.”
The after-school program allows other students to tutor and receive National Honor Society service points for tutoring.
“People sign up through a Google form to tutor, and we look for how high you score on AP, SAT and ACTs,” Qazi said. “If you are a tutor, you get volunteer hours.”
AASP is an environment where students can focus on their studies and feel comfortable asking for help.
“I know I don’t want students to feel embarrassed if they are struggling in a subject and some people just need help,” Qazi said. “If it’s too loud at home or if you just need an independent place to study, now you have a place.”
Head principal Jason Hayes is the main sponsor for AASP. He supervises students and brings snacks for them.
“We had some students that are in AP and NHS that got together and wanted to make a tutoring opportunity for students,” Hayes said. “This is a way for NHS students to earn service points and it’s a way for just students to help others.”
AASP is looking forward to becoming an ongoing program and has had a positive outcome with its goals.
“I’m just really proud of our students, it’s pretty awesome that our AP and NHS students wanted to do that because they’re giving up their study time,” Hayes said. “I think that it’s a great time to do it and it’s been super positive so far, and the students love the snacks.”
AASP occurs in the freshman cafeteria from 3-5 p.m. on Wednesdays and students can sign up to be tutored or sign up to tutor. Students can also join the Remind app and find more information on their Instagram.
