Laura Backman, Stockholm resident, selected to be a peer tutor at Saint Michael's College

COLCHESTER, VT (09/16/2010)(readMedia)-- Laura Backman, daughter of Patricia and James Backman of Stockholm was named to be a peer tutor in the office of academic support programs at Saint Michael's College. Backman, a junior, education and mathematics double major, graduated from Wallkill Valley Regional H.S. before coming to Saint Michael's, a top-ranked liberal arts Catholic college included in the prestigious Fiske Guide Colleges. One of Princeton Review's Best 371 Colleges, Saint Michael's provides opportunities for students to participate in independent science research, do real-work internships, get free passes to the best skiing in the East, and live in sight of Vermont's majestic Green Mountains. Saint Michael's is located in Burlington, Vermont, one of the best college towns in the country.

Backman will tutor calculus and elementary stats, through a program organized by Eliot Sloan, peer tutoring director. Tutors are selected on the basis of strong academic performance, recommendations by faculty members, enthusiasm for the subject, initiative, and a desire to help others. They participate in orientation and ongoing training sessions. Peer tutoring is a program intended to supplement the assistance provided by Saint Michael's faculty members.

"Peer tutors serve as mentors and share the experience of having gone through the course the client student is going through," the director said. One student client said last spring, "I had a very good experience with a tutor this year; my only regret is that I didn't get a tutor sooner."

The tutor agrees to follow a code that includes the understanding that, "I may not have all the answers all the time, but I will work together with my client(s) to figure out how to make use of available resources." And the client agrees to a code that includes the understanding that it is his or her responsibility to, "Honor the academic integrity policy of Saint Michael's College and do my own work."

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. It is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nations Best 371 Colleges, and is included in the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Saint Michael's is one of only 280 colleges and universities nationwide, one of only 20 Catholic colleges, with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 100 international students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2011 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

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