Fresno City College students are benefiting from the Extending the Class (ETC) program which holds weekly study sessions led by students who have successfully completed the course with the same instructor.

An ETC Leader is assigned to a class at the beginning of the semester and often times sits in during lecture. The Leader also sends out tutoring schedule hours to the class via email.

At each study session, ETC Leaders give students course-based materials such as helpful study guides or worksheets that help students engage with course materials.

Maria Rodriguez, a first semester statistics tutor with ETC, said the program helps students learn new strategies for studying the course material. She said she tries to help her students by teaching them how to study and use their notes.

Rodriguez said that becoming a tutor is a great opportunity to gain some experience for her future career in teaching.

Mandy Campise, fourth semester biology student and a Rams volleyball player, said she has been juggling school and volleyball since the fourth grade.  

“I have always been a good student athlete,” Campise said, “But when it came to this political science class I took my second semester, I was on the verge of failing.”

She discussed the difficulty she was having in the course and explained that without ETC she probably would have failed. “My tutor explained lessons in a way I was able to understand,” she said, “and receiving the study guides prepared me for the exams.”

Only 51 classes offered at FCC come with an assigned ETC Leader. These classes are listed on the FCC website.

To qualify as an ETC Leader, a student must have passed the course they want to tutor with a B or higher and is enrolled in at least six units.

Prospective leaders can download an application from the  web page and submit it with a copy of an unofficial transcript, along with a class schedule and a faculty recommendation form.

Kason Fite, two semester math tutor with the program, said he loves the great interactions he has with students.

“Students know that you are the person they can always go to if they ever need help,” Fite said. “It’s a different relationship because they see you in class during lecture completing the same work.”