With finals week right around the corner, students are crunching down on time to study for tests and finish class projects.

Getting help on a paper or math assignment or even studying for a Spanish test is necessary, especially for those who need that extra few points to advance to the next letter grade.

In cases like these, the best place for Park University students to turn to is the Academic Support Center.

Located in the Mabee underground in room 406, the center offers many services to help students with their academic progress.

Subject area tutoring, placement testing for new students, college skills seminars, disabilities accommodations for students with special needs, a computer lab, and the StepUP program are services and commodities offered by the center.

All services are free of charge to Park University students.

With these services, the Academic Support Center works every day “to encourage and help students achieve academic excellence during their studies at Park by helping them learn to think critically, communicate effectively, and become independent learners in order that they may engage in lifelong learning and better serve a global community,” according to the center’s mission statement.

While the mission statement has not changed, the center has evolved in many ways in the last decade.

“When I started here, we had only the main center or tutoring center, we served about 10 students with disabilities a year, employed about 10 tutors and employed two full-time staff, which was the person in charge and a secretary,” said Debra L. McArthur, director of Academic Support Services, who started working in the ASC in 1995.

McArthur also said over the years, the center has added a testing center in 2001 and the StepUP program in 2003, which began serving only about 60 students and now serves double that amount.

James Jones, who serves as an assistant mentor in the StepUP program, works closely with students in the program to get them help in whatever area they need assistance in.

StepUP is an enhancement of the services provided by the Academic Support Center. All Park University Metro Area students are welcome to apply. StepUP is also free to all students.

StepUP students work with a professional mentor who assists them in setting goals, developing talents, and making connections with people and services to help them be successful in their quest for a college degree.

 “School comes easy for some, but hard for others,” said Jones. “I like to encourage [students] to hang in there. I want to see success for graduation for them, especially academic success. When I see them walk at graduation, I like to think I’m part of that, and I’m proud of that.”

The Academic Support Center and StepUP program has seen a new addition within the last couple weeks with the hiring of a new assistant director of academic services/disability services and StepUP mentor.

LaTasha Green has already started seeing current StepUP students to make sure they are where they need to be with finals coming up quickly.

“I want to see students utilize their time wisely, whether it’s in the library or the tutoring center,” she said. “The ones who are doing really well academically are the ones already enrolled in the program. I am just making sure students who are in the program are benefiting from the program.”

Susan E. Michaud, office manager of the Academic Support Center, also works closely with Jones and Green in the StepUP program, helping students fill out the enrollment application.

As office manager, Michaud does more than just help students enroll in StepUP, however. Filling out reports, scheduling placement testing appointments, gathering logistics, hiring and training work study students and note takers for the center, and administering a variety of tests, Michaud stays busy all year long.

“Since I started in January of 2004,” she said, “the center has improved in getting students to come in. Tutoring services have grown exponentially.”

Michaud said that while there are many who have taken great advantage and use of the center, she would still like to see even more students use the center’s services.

“The biggest challenge is trying to keep up with students through communication and letting them know we are out here, completely free of charge,” she said. “I hope we can continue to expand our services and look forward to the future.”

But communication is just one area where the center could improve.

Pearl Webb, a senior communications and public relations major at Park who works as a federal work study office assistant in the center, feels that a bigger space for tutoring would help bring in more students.

“So many students come in for academic help,” she said, “and our facility doesn’t provide enough space for effective learning, because everyone is jammed in a small room with only five small tables.”

Overall, however, Webb feels the Academic Support Center is a benefit for Park University students, noting how much improvement she sees in each person who comes in for help.

“Not only do I see improvement in their drive,” she said, “it increases the student’s desire to improve in the area of difficulty all together. I begin to see a change in the student’s character after meeting with one of our StepUP mentors regularly, because the students feel like they have someone to turn to for more than just academic help. We are here for the students in any way we can be, and we’ve shown that and they see it.”

Signing up for tutoring through the Academic Support Center is a fast and easy process.

Before you don’t do so well on that biology test or lose points on that English paper because of incorrect citations, stop by Mabee 406 and get the help you need to be successful in your classes.