The Organization of Latin American Students has launched a high school tutoring service that was 10 months in the making, Project Student Aid. Headed by Carmen Lia Murall, OLAS’ outreach coordinator, the program seeks not only to help struggling high school students with their homework, but also to raise awareness for a Latin American school population that has “next to no voice,” according to Murall.

The service, created with the assistance of the Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples, Frontier College, and the Hispanic Council, hopes to correct the lack of information problem within the Hispanic community by supplying advice on a variety of topics ranging from sexuality, family and social pressures and how to obtain a post-secondary education. Murall expressed that many Latin American high school students “don’t even know even know what OSAP is.” By having Project Student Aid tutors set positive examples, Murall hopes that more and more Latin Americans will search out opportunities that they never knew existed.

Currently, the program has around 40 volunteers who assist students in many high schools, including Harbord Collegiate Institute, Central Commerce Collegiate and Oakwood Collegiate Institute. Volunteers are recruited from York University, Ryerson University and all three campuses of U of T. Even though the program’s target is Latin Americans, approximately half of the tutors are of different ethnicities. Non-Latin American students are also welcome.

Tutors are trained through a one-day seminar that consists of a workshop conducted in the morning by Marleen Pionteck, an educator of Frontier College. Issues covered include appropriate tutoring techniques and literacy problems. In the afternoon, a team of counsellors led by Consuelo Llanos discuss social and cultural issues within the Latin American community.

Even though the ride so far has been “bumpy,” Murall describes Project Student Aid as being “successful,” with high participation and plenty of positive feedback. The program is still in its expansionary phase, and hopes to draw in more high schools despite the difficulties experienced due to a lack of guidance counsellors in many schools.