When the 2011-2012 NRHH Executive Board was elected in April 2011, they made a commitment to provide general NRHH members with more leadership opportunities. Therefore, they created four different chair positions for the organization. The positions created included Service Chair, Resident Assistant Appreciation Chair, Inter-Residence Hall Association (IRHA)/Area Government (AG) Appreciation Chair, and NRHH Study Cafe Chair. The NRHH Study Cafe Chair position was established in order to bring academic resources to the residents of the University of Florida. The NRHH Executive Board, as well as the chairs for this academic year, wanted to provide residents with the resources needed to effectively excel in scholastics here at the University of Florida. As soon as accepting the offer to serve as the 2011-2012 NRHH Study Cafe Chair, James Suridis got straight to work. He contacted various tutoring companies, both on and off campus, in hopes to receive many responses from eager businesses. However, James’ plans came to a halt when only one business returned his emails and phone messages. StudyEdge tutoring services was both eager and ecstatic to have the opportunity to impact the residents on campus.

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Planning a campus wide academic program for on campus residents at the University of Florida is no easy task. During the initial meeting with the CEO of StudyEdge, he truthfully admitted that he usually doesn’t partner with student organizations. However, James was able to persuade him after discussing what NRHH was all about and how we encompass the top 1% of on campus residents at the University of Florida. StudyEdge was elated to provide free tutors for the event, free food and free give-a-ways for the attendees. Once StudyEdge was on board, it was time to begin planning the logistics and overall organization of the program. James provided a time frame for the event to StudyEdge that he felt would be most beneficial to the residents. He chose the week right after Spring Break due to the fact that many midterm examinations occur the following weeks after Spring Break. However, he needed to converse with StudyEdge in solidifying a date and time that worked best for the tutors that would be in attendance. March 13, 2012 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the Graham Area on the University of Florida campus was chosen out of convenience to the StudyEdge tutors as well as the scheduling of midterm examinations.

Jenn, Rich, Andrew, and Lance of StudyEdge were the tutors that came out the evening of NRHH Study Cafe. These four tutors combined to share knowledge with residents for fifteen courses, which included: CHM 1025, CHM 2045, CHM 2046, CHM 2210, CHM 2211, MAC 1140, MAC 1147, MAC 2311, MAC 2312, MAC 2313, MAC 2233, MAC 2234, STA 2023, STA 3024, and QMB 3250. The tutors came equipped with FREE pencils, t-shirts, and StudyEdge memberships that they graciously handed out to those residents in attendance. Table tents were created and placed on tables around the room so students looking for assistance in a certain class would be grouped together. This allowed the tutors to effectively and easily locate the residents by class. Food and beverages were provided through a partnership between NRHH, the University of Florida Office of Student Learning and Engagement, and StudyEdge.

As the evening came to a close, the StudyEdge tutors were still extensively engaged with the residents in attendance. As the residents and tutors left, they both couldn’t stop speaking highly of the efficacy of the program.

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As an Executive Board, NRHH decided to build and improve upon the First Annual NRHH Study Cafe that was held in 2010-2011 academic year. In appointing a chair to head this initiative, NRHH wanted to have a more direct impact on the residents in an ambitious academic manner. Through NRHH Study Cafe, the residents of the University of Florida were able to have an alternate space (to the library) to work on their academic work, while having the opportunity to receive free tutoring from StudyEdge.

Another underlying goal of this program was to provide the students with academic resources they can use in the future. During the program, StudyEdge was able to give a short presentation about their services, including classes covered, hours and locations, pricing, and much more. They even walked everything through their Facebook Application, where students enrolled in StudyEdge tutoring services are able to view online videos if they are unable to attend tutoring sessions in person. This presentation effectively gave students the opportunity to utilize StudyEdge services in the future.

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Not only was StudyEdge eager and willing to help NRHH with Study Cafe, they wanted to make a long lasting impact on the organization and residents of the University of Florida. During the initial meeting with the CEO of StudyEdge, he introduced us to the concept of a group code. StudyEdge creates group codes to provide the students that use their services with a discount. He explained to me that he hasn’t created many group codes, solely for the fact that he doesn’t partner up much with student organizations. However, he stated that he wanted to create a joint one for NRHH and IRHA. Once a student uses a group code, they receive 10% off the entire cost of the services. However, an additional 10% of that total cost is donated right to the organization. Therefore, every time a resident uses our group code, ‘campus,’ 10% of that total cost will be donated right back to NRHH and IRHA. NRHH has decided to use these donated monies to endow the annual Cathy Ponikvar Scholarship. To date, the group code has raised $1,695.00.

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This program exceeded all expectations anyone had for it. In terms of attendance and helpfulness to the residents, we could not have been more pleased. Even though it was a great success, there were a few areas of improvement that we noted following the conclusion of the program. After the event, the chair of the event and his liaison sat down to discuss what specific things needed to be improved in order to provide a better experience. These improvements included working on logistics regarding doors and providing a better way to call over a tutor. We decided that it would be better if we could have gotten advertisements out sooner, additionally, we ran out of food by the end, so next time we hope to get more. Due to the supreme success of the program and our partnership with StudyEdge, they have already reached out to us in talks with having the program again next fall and possibly over the summer. We hope that this partnership continues and that this program will continue year after year, and grow bigger and better.

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This program could be adapted to various universities across the country fairly easily. One would have to reach out to some of the local tutoring companies if they existed around the community. Also, if the university has a tutoring center on-campus, that could be another wonderful resource to reach out to. Finally, one can contact the professors and TAs of some of the larger classes to see if they would be willing to come and tutor, because they probably know the material the best. Finally, in order to curb some of the cost of this program, we reached out to the department within our Housing organization that mainly focuses on academics. This office helped to provide some of the funding and support for this program. Also, if one cannot get the funding necessary for the program to provide food, don’t sweat it! To be completely honest, most of the residents came out for the tutoring, so getting outstanding tutoring specialists is most important. The only other resources required for this program is a large area to conduct the program in and residents eager to study. Hopefully, both of those can be easily located on other campuses.

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