Then there is Jared Meehan.
Jared Meehan is a Ferris actuarial science senior. This semester Meehan is taking 15 credits, is president of the honorary math society, Pi Mu Epsilon, is the community service chair for Gamma Iota Sigma, the vice president of Ferris’ Red Cross Club and a member of The Bill Miller Band.
Not only does Meehan participate in extracurricular activities, he also works as a Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) facilitator.
An SLA facilitator is a student with good academic standing who has extensive knowledge in the subject in which they facilitate. The facilitator holds two extra weekly class periods in which he or she leads students by providing extra practice and help with the material.
Meehan is an SLA facilitator for Professor Dharma Shetty’s Math 115 course, which is Algebra II.
“There are so many reasons I wanted to become an SLA facilitator,” said Meehan. “I have always enjoyed helping people with math. The feeling of helping someone understand something is much more gratifying to me than even learning the material myself.”
Meehan’s second reason for wanting to be an SLA facilitator is because of his dad, who is one of his biggest influences.
“My dad has always told me, ‘The best way to learn is to teach,’ and after tutoring and being an SLA facilitator, I couldn’t agree more,” said Meehan.
According to Meehan, if you love helping others, there really is not a hard part about facilitating SLA, except that it’s a large time commitment.
In an SLA workshop, Meehan will go over class information, prepare worksheets for his students and make up a mock test for his students to study.
“My students are awesome,” said Meehan. “I try to keep class as upbeat as possible by showing my enthusiasm and letting my personality come through. I always feel like students come to my workshops because they truly want to be there.”
According to Meehan, at the end of his day, he feels like he has made a difference by teaching SLA. To him, that is one of the best feelings.
“I have also noticed a big difference in my upper level math courses from the fact that I have had recent practice with techniques I haven’t used in a long time,” said Meehan.
This experience is everything Meehan expected and more.
“I expected the full work load, but I didn’t realize how much I would gain as a person and a professional from taking this position,” said Meehan.
Meehan is excited to facilitate a Math 110 course next semester.