TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Rose-Hulman is expanding its efforts to tutor Wabash Valley children for free. Thanks to a $1.46 million grant from Lilly Endowment, the school will be adding a video chat feature to its AskRose tutoring program, supplementing its traditional phone, chat and Email services.
AskRose was created in 1991 as a way to help students in grades 6-12 with math and science homework. The tutors are all current students at Rose-Hulman. The video feature will start early this year.
“Many students already use video to talk with teachers or study with peers, so we believe students will be able to easily adapt to this technology,” said AskRose Director Susan Smith Roads. “Remote learning, social distancing and stay-at-home aspects of our lives during the COVID-19 pandemic have made our AskRose Homework Help services more necessary than ever. This new reality requires that we face these challenges with renewed energy, new ideas and improved systems that will lead and sustain us into the future.”
Connections can be made at (877) ASK-ROSE, or (877) 275-7673, or the AskRose website, AskRose.org, which also will be updated through funds provided in the Lilly Endowment grant. The improved website will provide more online educational tools, background information about math and science careers, and profile successful Rose-Hulman alumni in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The website already offers more than 500 resources available through videos and downloadable reference materials. Tutors have conducted more than 725,000 tutoring sessions to date.
AskRose is available Sunday through Thursday from 7-10 p.m. and Tuesday through Thursday from 1-4 p.m.
Smith Roads emphasized that two key priorities of the new video person-to-person tutoring services will be student privacy and data protection. Also, AskRose will continue to collaborate with educators and parents to provide the optimal resources and tutoring hours to support student learning.
All of AskRose’s tutoring services will continue to be free through 2022, thanks to the Lilly Endowment grant.
“Thanks to Lilly Endowment Inc.’s continued support for AskRose and Rose-Hulman, we hold a valued and important role in helping Indiana’s secondary education system inspire future generations of STEM leaders,” said Rose-Hulman President Robert A. Coons. “We are genuinely encouraged with the many stories from students, parents and educators about how Rose-Hulman is making a difference in the lives of others.”
