The Whitman Mentoring for Academics Workroom, known as WhitMAP, is expanding this school year to serve as a workroom for any Whitman students who need academic support. In past years, WhitMAP was an invite-only after-school tutoring program tailored specifically for students with learning accommodations.
WhitMAP is now open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in room 292. The program offers assistance with organization, self-advocacy, assignment completion and executive functioning skills and makes up part of Whitman’s Academic Support Program.
Before the creation of WhitMAP, Whitman ran the MCPS Cares tutoring program, which met in small groups multiple times a week to improve the executive functioning skills of students with learning gaps from the pandemic. The MCPS Educational Foundation funds special programs that fall outside the scope of regular school budgets, including initiatives like MCPS Cares. The county established the program in several schools during the virtual COVID-19 school year to foster academic enrichment and student success. At Whitman, the Cares program operated through the end of the 2022-2023 school year, when its county grant funding expired. In response, the school sought support from the Whitman Foundation, a non-profit parent and community organization, to run Cares through the 2023-2024 school year. This year the Whitman foundation helped fund the academic support program to launch the expanded WhitMAP workroom, said Whitman Special Education teacher and former Cares lead tutor Joan Cline.
English teacher Elizabeth Keating, a co-leader of WhitMAP, explained that the workroom is a valuable resource for academic and organizational support.
“It’s an open workroom; that means anybody can come in and get support,” Keating said. “That support could be figuring out how to catch up from an absence. But it could be on a more routine basis where you’re learning study skills.”
The Whitman Academic Support Program offers a range of resources, including teacher office hours, Vike2Vike Peer Tutoring, the Writing Center, the Math Workroom and this newest extension of WhitMAP’s workroom.
Special Education teacher Maryam Farooqi is one of the WhitMAP mentors. She expressed that the program helps students manage academic responsibilities through individualized support.
“I think that it’s a great program for all the students in school,” Farooqi said. “It’s a program for anybody who needs support of any kind that will make them tackle their needs.”
Each WhitMAP meeting begins with an instructional presentation on academic management skills. Students can then meet with WhitMAP teachers in small groups or one-on-one to seek support and content-specific assistance.
Junior Sadye Rider said that while she hasn’t used many academic resources at Whitman she is interested in WhitMAP and sees herself attending the program in the future.
“I think whenever I fall behind or procrastinate, they can help me get it done,” Rider said. “I think it’s a really good idea, and I would definitely consider going soon.”
