Making lifelong friends can be a great part of high school, and one of the best ways to make friends is through peer tutoring according to juniors Valerie Clark and Jake Burton.

    Peer Tutoring Life Skills is a class offered at NHS where students can help students with disabilities learn skills such as communication, technology, community work, and basic activities, like grocery shopping, to allow them to be independent members of society in the future.

    Molly Libs, a teacher new to the staff this year, is one of the few Life Skills teachers that works at NHS. She claims that the peer tutors are beneficial for the kids in her class because there are many students with lots of needs who benefit from the positive reinforcement.

    Despite the lack of adults in the classroom, Libs remains unyielding in her statement, “the more the merrier.”

    Libs also explained the attributes that a peer tutor must possess.

    “They should always be ready to jump in,” she said.

      Junior Valerie Clark has been a peer tutor since the middle of her sophomore year. She claims that interacting with the kids on a day to day basis has improved her communication skills, patience, and understanding.

    Clark believes that it is also beneficial for the kids being tutored because they have someone to communicate with who isn’t a teacher.

      “It’s rewarding to be able to do something that helps other people in a way that they normally wouldn’t get,” she said.

    The improvements made in her everyday life skills are not the only benefits Clark is getting from peer tutoring.

       “The best part of peer tutoring is meeting people like Jake,” Clark said, “ Jake is one of my best friends.”

    Jake Burton is a student at NHS and a student in Libs’ class. As a junior, he has been involved in this program for almost three years now. Burton is frequently seen with Clark during this class.

     “I don’t call them peer tutors, but I call them friends,” Burton said, with a smile.

      As peer tutors, they can help with work, but more importantly, they are friends who provide moral support.

    “I help myself learn,” says Burton, “[Valerie] comes to my class and helps me do my goal work . . .but I learn all by myself.”

    Some may see these people as ordinary tutors, but little do they know they are more than just peer tutors.