Nestor Serrato sees the same, cheery customers everyday.
He has an especially good rapport with Deborah Davila, a frequent visitor. As she walks in, he greets her, offers a seat, and begins to write.
But Serrato isn’t taking a food order; he’s prepping for a tutoring session.
“Just remember ‘All Students Take Calculus,'” he said, explaining the mnemonic that helps trigonometry students know when functions are positive.
“I want you to try, so you can practice. I’ll guide you,” he told Davila, mathematics sophomore.
Serrato, a math tutor and mathematics senior, has worked at the Center for the Advancement of Scholastic Achievement, otherwise known as CASA, for two years now. Serrato said that seeing improvement in his tutees is the most rewarding part of the job, and he tries to make students feel at home at CASA so that they return for another visit.
“Most of (the students) do come back to CASA because they passed their class, and that just feels gratifying,” Serrato disclosed.
Serrato works alongside 19 other tutors.
The staff is put together by Ana Saenz, director of CASA, who, in the early 90s, tutored at the Academic Enrichment Center, which focused on enhancing writing skills.
In 2001, the Academic Enrichment Center was split into the Writing Center and CASA to strengthen student success, according to Concepcion Hickey, executive director of the Programs for Academic Support and Enrichment.
CASA was designed to provide service in all subjects not related to writing.
“If you look up at the wall there, we provide tutoring for different course areas from developmental math all the way up to calculus II and III. I have math tutors that can tutor in discrete mathematics and geometry, and the sciences as well. We do chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, biochemistry, and biology. In the business area, we tutor accounting, and economics – micro and macro. We have tutoring for statistics, business statistics, government, and American history 1301 and 1302, so we provide quite a wide array of tutoring services for our students not only at the introductory level but also on up to the junior and senior levels,” Saenz said.
CASA saw almost a 20 percent increase in activity from September 2005 to September 2006, Saenz said. This September, CASA tutors helped 1,215 tutees.
For many students like Charles Prince, engineering sophomore, the lack of a tutoring center like CASA would cause undue stress.
“I’d probably have to hire a tutor from somewhere else, and I’d be in a lot of trouble with my classes,” said Prince. “CASA has helped me understand the subject better and has improved my grades.”