Stevens hosted a ceremony last week for the completion of the launch of the first SATMax course taught at Hoboken High School. The program, conceived by Dr. Donald Lombardi of the Howe School, debuted at Fifth Public High School, with Hoboken High being the second school to implement the program. Principal Robin Piccapietra was very excited to work with Stevens in hosting the ceremony.
The program’s new location meant finding more willing and able tutors. With an abundance of qualified students in the business school alone, Dr. Lombardi said he focused on finding candidates with several key traits.
“The SATMax Stevens Tutors were selected based on three essential criteria in addition to being outstanding students. They had to resonate integrity, as trust is an absolute in any teaching or business relationship, especially with high school students who can spot a phony in a second. They had to be intrepid, and bring their fortitude to the classroom to really encourage—that is, impart courage—to their students. And finally, they had to be innovative. We have a nice curriculum but one size never fits all; in fact, often you might need 16 different approaches for 16 students, not just 1 strategy for all 16 students.”
Lombardi ended up selecting six students from the Howe school: Daniela Cardona, Andrea Dragoni, Brandon Griffin, James Shannon, Paul Killian, and Matt Morton.
Griffin redesigned SATMax specifically for Hoboken High along with fellow senior Ashley Tomasura. They came up with a system for tutor selection, course pedagogy and curriculum, and fundraising.
The program commenced on January 21, the first day of the Stevens spring semester. Dr. Lombardi spoke of the main goal of SATMax, which is to introduce high school juniors to the work ethic and attitude expected of college students. “The first day of the program is the student’s first day in college, and we tell them that directly. In each session, we discuss what to expect in college, both in the classroom and across the campus, and our Stevens Tutors provide some great insights honestly, directly, and thoughtfully. In fact, our high school students have stated that learning about what to expect in college, especially gleaned from their direct questions to our Stevens tutors, is as valuable as the dedicated SAT prep training.”
High school students selected to participate in the program were ones who showed a high level of desire to learn and improve. Dr. Lombardi said what kind of high school students SATMax looked for.
“They had to be motivated and immediately demonstrate a commitment to our program. I must say that if we interviewed every [high school] junior in New Jersey for and target selection to our program, we would have not done better than the 16 students we worked with this semester at Hoboken High.”
The six Stevens students who served as tutors for SATMax spoke highly of their mentees. Paul Killian attributed their successes to the level of maturity from the juniors. “Every student held themselves accountable to not only work attentively during the sessions, but strove to improve outside of the classroom.” Similarly, Mathew Morton said, “All participants were very mature, driven, and genuinely interested in learning throughout the program.”
Brandon Griffin gave his insight into the working dynamic between the tutors and the high school juniors. “Enthusiasm is one of the other main qualities that made it easy to work with the students. Their enthusiasm for our class each week is what kept the staff motivated for teaching each week. Their excitement for learning is what made the staff excited to teach them. However, the whole project really was a success because the students were the best we could ask for.”
Paul Killian described what a normal day looked like. “We would start with a short presentation on the topic of the session—each day had a specific focus. After the overview we would break into our groups, working through a particular SAT practice test, stopping at some points to reset, etc.”
Daniela Cardona added, “There were always 1 or 2 tutors per every 4 or 5 students. While our tutoring was very personal, we also had sessions where the tutors taught the entire class. Dr. Lombardi always supported us and taught us how to take command of the classroom in order to engage the students.”
The 16 juniors chosen for the course had average total score increases of 150 points, with one student going from 550 to 760 in one section. These drastic increases meant that the 16 students could now apply to a much wider pool of colleges and universities with a higher chance of acceptance.
Another large goal of the SATMax program is to foster stronger relations between the city of Hoboken and Stevens. The program hopes to attract more families to Hoboken by presenting the juniors with an opportunity to access SAT prep and strategy taught by students from a highly-ranked local technical institute.
Current students who are interested in becoming tutors for next year’s campaign should contact Dr. Lombardi via email, or swing by his office in Babbio Center 420 anytime between 8:00 a.m. to 10:30a.m. on Tuesdays, or between 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
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