Cambridge Learning Center - Math Physics English Biology Chemistry Homework
Share
Cambridge Learning Center: Math, Physics, English, Biology, SAT/ACT, CAHSEE.... Their success will decrease. Classes will get larger. and Saturdays 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
CAMBRIDGE LEARNING CENTER,
Educates and Disciplines Students
Director: Mr William Do
By Vanessa White
SAN DIEGO—As funding cuts are made to education statewide, students will suffer. The student to teacher ratio will get higher. Teachers will lack the ability to maintain an ideal classroom setting. Cambridge Learning Center can help students work through these changes. Cambridge opened its doors
this week with packets already prepared for 72 students enrolled at its new and larger location in Mira Mesa.
“It’s a comfortable environment,” Kady Hanson, Cambridge manager, said. “These kids really do want to learn.”
Cambridge has a 93% success rate and although the students have fun during academic games and competitions, they are required to take their learning seriously. For every teacher there are five students, providing direct attention to specific needs. The students meet for 90 minutes, three-five days each week, pushing themselves academically but most importantly achieving discipline. Students who have traditionally disliked school appreciate learning while attending Cambridge. Their attitudes outside the center reflect respect for themselves and their families. Work for students and teachers
Students are allotted time for assigned homework, then they are given challenging packets to work on. Once complete, the students’ assigned teacher either gives them a test or asks them to write about what they’ve learned. Finally, the students are tested, either on computers, in groups, or individually by a special team of teachers, who ensure the students learned what was required and the previous teacher guided the students well enough. Teachers and students develop a close relationship, something like a family. Coming to work is exciting and the teachers strive whole-heartedly for optimum results. Ranging from late teens to middle aged adults, some teachers come straight from their school classrooms to teach after school at Cambridge. Although teachers specialize in English and math at Cambridge, they are willing to help in other subjects when they can. Most of the students are K-12, yet adults are welcome for one-on-one training in English and math. And it’s not just the students who receive training. Hanson is a sophomore at San Diego State University, sometimes needing help with her math homework. Finding help at Cambridge, she not only teaches but is being taught.
“He offers help to anybody,” she said of William Đỗ, Cambridge’s founder. “He [has] put a lot into it.”
Lyne Phan’s story
Lyne Phan needed help. Battling with health issues and a painful undiagnosed ailment, she began regularly missing high school classes. She went from being an “A” student to getting “C’s” and “D’s,” unable to keep up with her work load.
“I was very reluctant to go to Cambridge,” she said, remembering the day her grandfather got her an appointment at Cambridge after reading about it in a newspaper. To her surprise, everyone she met at Cambridge was friendly. Phan even met one of her now closest friends while awaiting her initial placement test results. Being a single child, she values her relationships with other students and teachers at Cambridge, comparing them to brothers and sisters she never had. She joins them for monthly dinners and said they’ve never singled her out because of her illnesses. Phan’s grades began coming up and she is going into her senior year of high school. She aspires to be a pharmacist, hoping to help people in whatever she does.
“It was all thanks to Cambridge,” she said, adding that struggling through the pain is a bit more bearable. “Everything went up from there.”
About the founder
Around 1992, William Đỗ graduated third in his class in engineering from University of California San Diego (UCSD). Dr. Manfred Smith remembered Đỗ as being his best student. While working as an engineer project manager directly out of undergrad, Đỗ constantly asked Smith how he could become a teacher at San Diego City College. Smith said Đỗ needed his master’s degree.
Đỗ toiled through the degree program and when finally finished, decided not to teach at the city college.
“Instead of getting a job teaching, he created his own teaching job,” Smith said.
Đỗ said Smith and another professor, Tom Blamey, helped him tremendously with the ideas behind Cambridge but Smith said Đỗ was the creator.
“He’s grown it and expanded it,” Smith said, adding he’s merely offered advice to Đỗ and helped purchase books for Cambridge. Though excited to open Cambridge at its first location in November 2009, Đỗ had to make daily sacrifices. At times, he stayed at the center until 4 or 5 a.m. resulting in numerous parking tickets. But when the students were done for the evenings and he sometimes walked them out to the parking lot, he saw their parents asleep in the car, patiently waiting for their hard working children.
Đỗ said such a sight pushed him to strive more, ensuring that his students would be successful. He’s gradually spreading his influence, welcoming students of all races and ethnicities to join Cambridge. Other Information about Cambridge
All textbooks and packets are provided by Cambridge at no cost to students. At the new location, a student enrolling for three, four or five days a week. Hours of operation are Mondays-Thursdays, 3 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Students can choose among three different sessions with time slots at 3-4:30, 4:30-6, or 6-7:30 on weekdays. CAMBRIDGE 1 EAST SAN DIEGO:
(619) 501-5501 @ 4444 El Cajon Blv, Suite 10, 92115. CAMBRIDGE 2 MIRA MESA:
(858) 999-2288 @ 10717 Camino Ruiz, Suite 140, 92126. CAMBRIDGE 3 LINDA VISTA:
(858) 999-2378 @ 7345 Linda Vista Rd, 92111.