Many people affect our lives and although they will probably never make it to Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” recognition, if we had our own Time Magazine, we would probably want to note quite a few people who helped influence our lives here at HCC.
By way of this article, I elect to start a HCC Times “Person(s) of the Year” series whereby students may submit an article about an influential person on campus who should be recognized. Perhaps, an advisor really helped you, or a particular faculty member, a fellow student, and in my case it was a particular tutor, whom you will now read about below. So, by way of this new series, I wish to commend Mr. Krishnakant Shah.
Before you meet him, first, let me give you some background by telling you about my dilemma. For the fall semester, I enrolled in an express class; Accounting 111. Because I had some career experience (doing accounts payable, expense reports and pie charts), I figured this class would be a breeze that I could do with ease. Now, to those readers that may not be familiar with express classes, I have taken several. One was English 121 in the summer and another was Speech 105 which was a weekend special.
For the latter, you need to reserve three weekends in a row free to attend this class: Friday night, Saturday morning to afternoon, and Sunday noon to 4:00 p.m. I never thought I would compose and perform so many speeches in such a short time – I almost considered changing my major and becoming a politician; but I highly recommend “express” classes as a fast way to earn credits. Of course, as you probably realize, I am not so sure I would say that about Accounting, especially when I tell you that I flunked my first quiz.
Yes, I was in danger of failing as I was not able to keep up with the speed of the class. There were other factors contributing to my failure. I knew I had to do something and withdrawing was not an option. I learned about the availability of a tutoring program at HCC, known as the Learning Assistance Center, on the third floor of RCF.
The good news was that I could get a tutor, but the bad news was that it would take about three weeks as there was a shortage of accounting tutors.
By that time, this fast class would be almost over so I spoke to an HCC advisor. She arranged for me to transfer to a regular paced class in which I had only missed one class. However, since I did still find accounting challenging, I waited to get rescued by a tutor.
Imagine my relief when after three weeks I received a phone call from Mr. Krishnakant Shah (KK for short) and found out that he could tutor me every Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
I arrived at the Learning Center early so I could be ready with my questions. When my tutor arrived, he was very friendly and concerned. As I mentioned, there was a shortage of accounting tutors, so while KK tutored me, he had other students so I could work on my accounting problems and he would come back to answer any of my questions. He really made sure I would understand the material and was patient. He did not make me feel stupid and always had a pleasant disposition. I still did flunk a quiz in my new class but my grades improved. KK really made sure that I understood the material.
He began tutoring for HCC in February, 2009. He tutors Sunday afternoons and then Monday through Wednesday evenings. He tutors not only accounting, but also math. He lives in Elkridge, Maryland with his wife and two children, and works in Laurel, MD. There he holds a position as a general manager of a hospitality company in which he performs management duties including accounting.
This past fall semester he tutored about 20 students. I asked him why he does tutoring and he said he used to help as an instructor in his native country, India, and found it very fulfilling. He really loves teaching and is glad when his students excel. I asked him what his success rate was and although he does not keep a running tab he did say that he sees students he tutored now progress on to more advanced classes. Plus, thanks to KK, I obtained a B in Accounting 111 which is a far cry from an F.
I invite our readers to share their stories about specific people who helped them, including KK. Submit your articles for publication so that these individuals may be recognized, and I really look forward to receiving your submissions.
Deborah Stempien - Office Technology Major