At the start of the school year, seniors Alexis David and Lucia Ponti approached Archer’s new learning specialists Danit Kaya and Stephanie Wald about continuing and revamping Archer’s Peer Academic Work Support program, PAWS. They determined that, working with the new learning specialists, they wanted to redesign PAWS, and Power Hour was born.
Power Hour began Monday, Dec. 4, before winter break and resumed Monday, Jan. 8. The learning specialists and student coordinators hold sessions after school every Monday through Thursday from 3:15-5 p.m. in room 147. Students can also use the space as a study hall. Wald said she not only wanted to maintain the “bones” of PAWS, but also provide students with executive functioning skills. She added that she wanted to make Power Hour a more community-oriented environment.
“It’s 11th and 12th graders tutoring the student body, but we’re going to try and add in some executive functioning skills — so we are training the tutors to also provide some help with note-taking or study skills or things like that because students who are coming in for tutoring might need that,” Wald said. “So, that’s something that we’re adding into it. We’re rolling it out slowly, but we’re hoping to add more.”
As a student coordinator, Ponti said one aspect she wanted to carry over from PAWS to Power Hour was the bond between older tutors and younger students who need support.
“The upper schoolers act as your big sisters, like your big both academic and social sisters. I really have created amazing, amazing relationships with younger students, and it’s a great opportunity to get to know other grades and forge connections with people that you aren’t in class with,” Ponti said. “Also, [tutors] make the middle schoolers, I think, and the younger students feel really supported, and that’s what Archer is all about.”
Sophomore Isley Bonney said, after coming to Archer last year, she felt she needed extra support academically, so she turned to Power Hour this year.
“I feel like I really needed help because sometimes [school work] can be really difficult. And I think that just finding the right people can help you succeed and do better to the point where you can pick it up on your own,” Bonney said. “I like the idea of [Power Hour] being student-led, [with] people your age who have already been in the class can tell you, ‘Oh yeah, I remember that from last year, so I can help you with this. I can give you a couple pointers. I can give you feedback.’ So I think that is part of the reason as well — it’s a really good service.”
Wald said she is looking forward to seeing students become more involved in the program.
“I’m excited to see some continuity and see the same people coming every week and hopefully students coming as repeat customers that they know, ‘Oh, when I go on Wednesdays, I can really get help on chemistry,’ or … students who really feel like this is a place that’s helping them achieve their goals at Archer,” Wald said.
Since Ponti is a senior, she said she and David hope the reenvisioned Power Hour will continue after they graduate. Ponti said she felt PAWS lost some of its emphasis on connection, which is one aspect she waned to bring back in Power Hour.
“So my vision for it is to really be both an academic and social weapon where students can come in and get to know people, but also find their love for learning in connecting with others. That’s the whole point, right?” Ponti said. “We all just want to collaborate. We want to get to know each other. But we also need to focus on our academics. So, it’s just finding a balance between all of those things. And I really hope that it can get carried on into next year and the years after that. We have amazing juniors on our team that I know are going to take it to the next level.”
