The Inter-Mountain photo by Taylor McKinnie One of the Kump Education Center’s Targeted Tutoring program tutors helps two students with a worksheet.

ELKINS — In October, the Kump Education Center began another year of its Targeted Tutoring program, helping students improve not only their academic abilities, but also their health and social skills.

The Targeted Tutoring program began on Oct. 16. The program focuses on helping fourth- and fifth-graders from local schools with their studies through traditional tutoring methods, as well as through healthy snacks, social interactions and more.

“I really think coming here and getting those ideas is helpful for students to realize that you don’t have to be big and you don’t have to be rich to make a difference,” Kump Education Center Executive Director Dr. Heather Biola told The Inter-Mountain.

“H.G. Kump and his brother put each other through law school. They paid for one and then for the other… (As children) they lived on a farm and they were required to memorize a page of the dictionary. Even if they missed school to work in the (farm) field, their parents wanted them to keep building their vocabulary.”

Biola explained that it’s been said if students cannot read or do math by third grade, those students are less likely to finish high school. The Targeted Tutoring program tries to help fourth- and fifth-graders prepare for middle school by improving the students’ math, reading and vocabulary skills.

“So (the students) can have the confidence to go ahead and do what they can do,” Biola said. “We can’t make them something they’re not, but we can help them to be strong at what they’re good at and to compensate for what they’re not good at.”

On the students’ first day in the program, they were given a short reading assignment about former West Virginia Governor Herman Guy Kump called, “A Small Guy Who Fought Against the Great Depression.”

Students were asked “What do you know about the governor who lived in the Kump House,” “What do you want to learn about Governor Kump” and, after reading the short story, they were asked, “What did you learn about Governor Kump?”

Throughout the session, students and tutors worked together on assignments, including math equations, while also having friendly and insightful conversations. Tutors asked about the students’ interests while also sharing their likes or thoughts, keeping the conversations engaging.

“Right now, the thing with tutoring… (the kids) really need to talk one on one with adults, but they spend a lot of time on the computer, and even in the room with their parents, they may not be talking to the parents,” Biola said. “So we’re trying very hard to make that conversational experience come alive for them, because that’s when you’re interacting and thinking and being challenged just a little bit… you need to be sharing ideas.”

Healthy snacks are also important to the tutoring experience at the Kump Education Center. Food from four of the categories represented in the USDA’s MyPlate — fruits, grains, vegetables and protein — are offered for students to enjoy during their tutoring session. As Biola explained, research has shown that you feel more satisfied when you eat from different food groups. Plates in the shape of the USDA MyPlate are also available to help the students understand the types of food, as well as the amount of each food, they should eat to have a balanced diet.

In a Kump Corner column printed on Oct. 18, Biola wrote that tutors could be essential in helping students overcome the current issues in education, such as lower IQ’s, lower attention spans and lack of a connection in the classroom.

“Children can overcome their weaknesses if they learn coping devices to make them better students,” Biola wrote. “With private tutoring, students do not have to hide their weaknesses from the rest of the class. Good tutors can pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of individual students and help them each become more effective learners.”