Penn volunteers help students with SAT prep

As a sign posted in West Philadelphia's University City High School reads, the students there have "high expectations." And for a school whose students scored almost 300 points below the national average on the SAT last year, there is a sense of urgency to improve their performance. College Bound, a group of 17 Penn students, is doing its part, helping some of the high-schoolers realize their potential by tutoring them for the SAT, which will be administered for seniors in December and next spring mainly for members of the junior class. The entirely student-funded, student-run volunteer tutoring program helps area UCHS students complete their college applications and prepares them for both the verbal and math sections of the SAT. Wharton sophomore David Kirsch runs the program, which was created last year on a smaller scale. The high school, located at 36th and Filbert streets, is divided into nine charters in which each student can choose to focus on a potential career choice. Kirsch said he is hoping to expand the program by including more charters over the next few weeks. Currently, the Penn students work only with the multimedia charter, but they hope to branch out to include the health charter and another charter that focuses on entrepreneurship and technology. Kirsch said that, because of the expansion, he expects the group will tutor twice the number of students as last year. College senior Sandi Tevelow, a program volunteer, explained that getting high school students to come to an after-school tutoring session is not always an easy task. "Sometimes we have to sit outside their classrooms because they aren't excited about coming in after school," Tevelow said. "They need something to motivate them." And with more than 25 students coming in three days a week to get extra help in a friendly environment, the College Bound volunteers seem to have figured out how to motivate high-schoolers. The volunteers know each of the students' names, prepare extensive homework sheets, bring snacks and just help out. Initially, the teachers introduced the program and the high school students had the opportunity to sign up. After that, it was all up to the students. Rob Closson is one student who typifies the motivation and discipline College Bound has instilled in some of the students, according to UCHS teacher Lisa Kelly, the contact person for the program. "You can always count on Rob," Kelly said, explaining that showing up late one day last week was quite rare for Closson, who never misses a day and is eager to improve his board scores. Volunteers hope that, by helping out, they can help raise the scores and hopes of many of the high school students. As of the 1998-99 school year, only 38 percent of University City High School's students even took the SAT, and just 35 percent enrolled in any type of education after graduation. SAT scores are particularly low for the school, which averages a 358 verbal and a 364 math score for a composite of 722, 294 points below the nation's composite average of 1016. Kelly said that although it is much too early to see any improvement in class, she knows how hard it is to keep the students interested. "Having a one-on-one program is really valuable," she said.