News from

The Learning Center

T he L e a r ni n g Ce n t e r N e ws l e t t e r : De c e m b e r 2 0 1 4
Volume

Shannon Lavargna named Outstanding

Peer Educator of The Month for October
If you see Shannon
Lavargna
Congratulate her for
being named The
Learning Centers Outstanding Peer Educator
of the Month for October. Shannon was jointly nominated for this
award by Chad Detjen, Peer Mentoring
Coordinator, and Lori
DeConinck, Director.
Shannon joined The
Learning Center team
in Fall 2014 semester.
Shannon serves The
Learning Center in several roles including as
a Peer Mentor and
History Tutor.
Amidst her busy schedule, Shannon always

Above: Shannon
Lavargna, Outstanding
Peer Educator of the
Month for October

finds time to attend

every mentor training,
and is truly a model
mentor. She is always
willing to share her
experiences as a peer
mentor with other men-

tors for training purposes. She is currently

mentoring 4 students,
in addition the 5 students that she has assisted in history.
Shannon has an
ever-present willingness to take on new
tutoring or mentoring
requests. Her tutees
and mentees love
Shannons enthusiasm
for assisting them, and
the great examples
that she uses when explaining course content.
Shannon is an amazing
asset to The Learning
Center peer educators.
We cannot thank her
enough for all of her
hard work.

December 2014

Inside this issue:

Outstanding PE of
the Month

Save-the-date

JumpStart Reunion

Utilization Fun Facts

Final Exam Week

Walk-In Tutoring

Stress Less Fest

Events

Special points of interest:

Peer Educator Development Initiative

ences that the students have
and skills the student develops in work study or university paid positions are invaluable post-matriculation.
This fall, The
Learning Center implemented a Peer Educator Development Initiative. The Peer

Educator Development Initiative is an effort to go

above and beyond to assist
its 80+ student workers
utilizing and showcasing
those often hidden skills to
help the student achieve
their individual career or
other future goals.
(continued on page 4)

Peer Educator Devel- 1,4

opment Initiative

A majority of offices on the

SNHU campus and SNHU
students enjoy the mutual
benefits of work study/
university paid positions.
Student workers also receive something of added
value through their employment on campus that is often overlooked; the experi-

, Issue

Congratulations to Shannon Lavargna, the October

Peer Educator of the
Month

Save the Date for our Stress

Less Fest events December 2
-12th

Congratulations to Brendan Keenan, the winner of

the month-long Candy
Corn Counting Contest

Page 2

The Learning Center Newsletter: December 2014

Are You
Smarter
Than a Tutor?
Team Trivia Game

JumpStart Reunion
The annual JumpStart Reunion was held on Tuesday
November 18th in Stark Hall.
Students who participated in
the 8th annual JumpStart
Summer Bridge Program in
August 2014, and their mentors, were invited to gather
for an afternoon filled with
activities reminiscent of the
JumpStart program.
The reunion debuted with a
screening of the 2014
JumpStart DVD. The DVD
was a photo and video compilation of students activities
throughout the JumpStart
week and was met with quite
a few laughs and fond reflections on the program.

Tuesday February 24th

at 6:00 pm!

Students were also able to

enjoy snacks as the group
participated in Kathy Willis
box game. Students were
presented with a large box
covered in gift wrap, and
were told there was a prize
inside for the winner. What
the students didn't know was
that the box contained 8
other nested boxes, all

wrapped one inside of the

other. Students took turns
rolling a pair of die, hoping
to roll a certain set of numbers that satisfied or solved
an equation that Kathy presented students with. After
several rounds of the game,
JumpStart Mentor Paul Gugliemo unwrapped the last
box and was the winner of a
SNHU t-shirt!
Then, students used their deductive reasoning skills in a
game called Mafia, facilitated by Selina Marcille.
Students were assigned roles
including mafia members, a
doctor, and a detective, and
the group had to collaborate
to determine which
JumpStart students among
the group were the mafia
members before too many
innocent JumpStart students
were eliminated.
Overall, the JumpStart Students, Mentors and Coaches
enjoyed the reunion event
and their JumpStart week.

Above: Photos from the

2014 JumpStart Reunion

The Last Chapter Pub

Sponsored by :

The Learning Center,

CAPE, Phi Omega Psi,
and Phi Delta BetA

Learning Center Utilization

-The Learning Center
currently employs 92 tutors
and mentors
- 3,258 overall tutoring visits
from 1,298 students
-573 business tutoring visits
-1,189 math tutoring visits
-728 writing tutoring visits

Great prizes for

teams and audience members!

-Business class assistants increased 25% from Fall

2013, with 20 class assistants

-18 sections of English are

utilizing a class assistant
-31 sections of math are
utilizing a class assistant , an
increase of 34% from 23
sections last fall
-45 students are working
with a Peer Mentor for 185
total mentor meetings
-5 athletic teams are participating in the NCAA Academic Eligibility Program
-7 new students are participating in the Commit to Suc-

cess program
- 7 students have chosen to
continue participating in
Commit to Success (CTS) since
Spring 2014
-125 Liberal Arts/other
tutoring visits
-25 students are participating in the Scholarship Retention Program and have had
139 meetings with mentors

-333 visits for special programs including NCAA, CTS,

Retake with Success, Conver-

Volume

, Issue

Page 3

Final Exam Week Walk-In Tutoring Schedule

ACCOUNTING 201 & 202
Sunday 12/14

4:00-5:00pm
5:00-6:00pm
6:00-7:00pm
7:00-8:00pm

LC
LC
LC
LC

206
206
206
206

Chris Sibanda Chris Hakes Mallory Coulombe Nathaniel Stiles

Chris Sibanda Chris Hakes Mallory Coulombe Emily Holmes
Jamie Emerson Emily Holmes Derek Gugumuck
Jamie Emerson Emily Holmes Derek Gugmuck Jordan Gray

ECONOMICS 201 & 202

Sunday 12/14
Monday 12/15

4:00-8:00pm

LC 206

Marek Rivero Jordan Gray (5:00-6:00)

5:00-8:00pm

LC 206

Marek Rivero Chris Sibanda Nathan Richard (6:00-8:00)

FINANCE 320 & 330

Sunday 12/14

4:00-8:00pm

LC 206

Nathan Richard Chris Sibanda (6:00-8:00)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 100 & 210

Sunday 12/14

5:00-8:00pm

LC 206

Myat Thu Tun (5:00-7:00) Victoria Carlson (6:00-8:00)

Monday 12/15

5:00-6:00pm
6:00-7:00pm
7:00-8:00pm

LC 206
LC 206
LC 206

Adam Tremblay Victoria Carlson Rob Conlon

Adam Tremblay Mattt LaRochelle Victoria Carlson Rob Conlon
Matt LaRochelle

MARKETING 113
Sunday 12/14

6:00-8:00pm

LC 206

Jessica Cafarella

MATH
Sunday 12/14

Monday 12/15

6:00-8:00pm
1:00-2:00pm
2:00-3:00pm
3:00-4:00pm
5:00-6:00pm
6:00-7:00pm

Sunday 12/14

Monday 12/15

7:00-8:00pm
4:00-5:00pm
5:00-6:00pm
6:00-7:00pm
7:00-8:00pm
9:00-11:00am
11:00-1:00pm
1:00-3:00pm
3:00-4:00pm
4:00-5:00pm
5:00-6:00pm
6:00-7:00pm
7:00-8:00pm

LC
LC
LC
LC
LC

205
205
205
205
205

LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205
LC 205

Youssaira Akennad Brittany Heyman Ashleigh Lambert Raj Phadtare Adam Tremblay
Caitlyn Gancorz Melissa Handy Ashleigh Lambert Kaitlin Shaughnessy
Caitlin Gancorz Melissa Handy Raj Phadtare Kaitlin Shaughnessy Adam Tremblay
Mike Hoffman Brittany Heyman Raj Phadtare Adam Tremblay
Youssaira Akennad Caroline Fleming Chris Hakes Brittany Heyman Mike Hoffman
Raj Phadtare Kaitlin Shaughnessy
Youssaira Akennad Brittany Heyman Chris Hakes Mike Hoffman Ashleigh Lambert
Kael Miyata Kaitlin Shaughnessy Raj Phadtare Mike Weinstein
WRITING
Youssaira Akennad Brittarny Heyman Chris Hakes Mike Hoffman Hannah Kump
AndrewShaughnessy
Pesci Sarah
Hamilton
Ashleigh Lambert Kaitlin
Raj
Phadtare Mike Weinstein
Andrew Pesci Evan Bodi Sarah Hamilton
Martin Foley Molly Coyne Taylor Picard
Taylor Picard Matt Gagnon Cody Harlow
Mike Hoffman
Melanie Friese
Mikaela Koivisto
Taylor Picard
Taylor Picard Molly Coyne
Sarah Hamilton Mikaela Koivisto
Mikaela Koivisto Elizabeth Worth
Elizabeth Worth Matt Gagnon

The Learning Center Newsletter: December 2014

Volume

, Issue

Peer Educator Development Initiative (continued from page 1)

The Peer Educator Development Initiative
will consist of opportunities for advancement beyond the traditional Peer Educator
roles with the creation of a Lead Tutor role,
as well as workshops focused on professional development and more.
One of the first workshops offered to students was a private resume writing and
interview prep session hosted by TLC and
facilitated by The Career Development
Center (CDC). CDC staff worked with Peer
Educators to create an optimal description
of their Learning Center work experience
for their resumes. This workshop also allowed Peer Educators to answer mock interview questions about their Learning Center experience.
An additional component planned for the
spring semester is the creation of a Lead
Tutor position for the math, business, and
writing disciplines. Students working in a
lead tutor capacity, as the name implies,
will take a lead role in mentoring new tutors during tutoring walk-in tutoring sessions, and take on added responsibilities.
TLC Graduate Assistants will conduct infor-

mational sessions about the role and responsibilities of a Learning Center Graduate Assistant position, for Peer Educators
that may be interested in pursuing a Masters degree. The Graduate Assistants will
also provide an overview of Graduate
Assistant and Research Assistant roles at
other institutions. Selina Marcille, Writing
Tutoring Coordinator, has also extended
an offer to assist with outlining personal
statements for Peer Educators that may be
interested in attending graduate school.
Lastly, TLC is partnering with the CDC to
examine whether Peer Educator trainings
and employment duties might qualify as a
pre-professional certification.
TLC staff is excited to continue moving
forward with the Peer Educator Development Initiative to give their Peer Educators
an additional avenue to develop work-

place-relevant skills and experience to

support the Peer Educators as they prepare to see themselves succeed after
graduating from SNHU.

Candy Corn
Counting Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Brendan Keenan, the winner of the October

Candy Corn Counting Contest!
Out of 92 guesses, Brendan was
the closest guess without going
over!
His guess was 337 and there
were 339 candy corn in the jar!
Brendan received the jar of candy corn as his prize!

Stress Less with TLC: Stress-Less Fest 2014 Events

Cookies, Cocoa & Career
Development: Resume Building &
Writing Workshop
Tuesday 12/2 from 12:30-1:45
Wednesday 12/3 from 3:30-4:45
in LC 206

Gingerbread House and

Cookie Decorating Event
Monday 12/8 from 5:006:30pm in LC 206

3 Point Basketball
Shootout
Tuesday 12/9
8:00pm
Fieldhouse
Math 130 Finance
Final Exam
Review
Thursday 12/11
5:00-6:30pm
LC 206

The Learning Center 2500 North River Road Manchester, NH 03106 603.645.9606