Taking Ask BRIA for a Test Drive

Kelly Surniak, Contributor

 It was five days before my assignment, a PowerPoint for which I had to rate a Utopia for English 4 was due. 

I was racking my brain for an idea and confused on how to do the assignment. My newspaper adviser had assigned me a story on BRIA, because both assignments due dates were rapidly  approaching, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. 

BRIA is a County wide website that serves all county students available for K-12, they are just the board’s homework and don’t work with FLVS students. They are available from Monday to Thursday. 

When I went onto the site, It took me to a page where there were four subjects to choose from: English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.

 I Clicked on the English/Language arts for 12th grade because I didn’t need help with any other class subjects. 

Once I was in the waiting room of the meeting just like going into a teams meeting in class, It didn’t take long for someone to join me in. 

Her name is Jennifer Demidst, she helps students with their English work and I received help from her for a project I am doing for my college pre-English 4 class. She is a full time teacher. 

 The program was introduced in September during the pandemic and Demdist  explained to me the amount of students that attend her meeting

‘’There would be about 8 -15 students in one night for language arts and Sometimes 25-20 students a night for individual help.’’ said Demdist. ‘’No other school district are using the site but are looking to model it.’’ 

 She also gave information on when the program is open for students.

‘’All students have access to their canvas page open from 3-9pm for help for the tutor’s expertise in certain areas on certain nights for different tutors,’’ said Demdist

 I had an easier time to complete the project, and Demdist was also helping out another student in the meeting. She gave equal help amongst the student and me and made sure to diligently check up on our progress. She also guided me step by step and gave me very useful tips for my project. I wouldn’t have ever used this unless my adviser had assigned me the story.

Because the site is the only county using it, not sure if they will be continuing. But, I feel they should. As a matter of fact, they should have pushed it more in the beginning. I spoke to two students who knew about it, but didn’t use the site.