The Techniques Center highlights the Fund for Excellence during its 2025 Texas Tech Day gift.
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Every student on the Texas Tech campus has his or her own unique needs.
Also, certain populations need extra support to ensure success in college careers.
This is where the Texas Tech Tech Center rises to the plate and helps students shine.
Techniques Center offers supplemental academic support services to meet the unique needs of undergraduate students with documented evidence of learning disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD or ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder.
The Centre recognizes that all students learn differently, so they strive to ensure that students have access to education while helping students become independent self-advocates and achieve educational goals.
Sharon Betzold, program director at Techniques Center, said that in addition to hands-on tutoring sessions, students often support aspects of university executive functioning, including organization, time management and learning skills.
“Our students tend to be incredibly intelligent, but they can have a hard time with things like turning assignments on time,” Betzold said. “Students of this population typically have a retention rate of 30-60% at the university without support, but for those who come and participate actively in our program, since 1999, we have had a retention rate of 97-100% at Texas Tech every semester since 1999.”
This spring, the centre has been supporting 165 students and plans to increase the capacity to 200 in the fall. Texas Tech undergraduates who want to receive services from the Technique Center must first be applied, approved for services at Student Disability Services (SDS) and complete the required SDS intake. This is in addition to completing the individual applications and approval process in the Technique Center. These students are on the waitlist.
Students who are already enrolled in the program will be asked if they would like to continue enrolling for the next semester and will be given the first opportunity to maintain their spot. Any remaining open spots from students who have graduated or decided not to re-enroll will be provided to waitlist students on a first-come, first-served basis.
Each student will meet with academic counselors such as Betzold and discuss topics related to executive functional skills once a week for 30 minutes. Additionally, students will be paired with one or two peer tutors based on coursework and compatibility, and have a 5-hour one-on-one session with those tutors.
“Students work with the same one or two private tutors throughout the semester,” Betzold said. “So they really get to know each other and develop mentoring relationships. Tutors help students review content and speak to them through what they remember specifically from the resources and classes they used on campus for semester.” They give as many tips and advice as possible from their own experiences. ”
Not only is the tutor excelling in academics, he also completes training courses at the Techniques Center and is accredited as a tutor through the University’s Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). New tutors will take part in 20 hours of training in the semester, and private tutors will receive 11-12 hours of training in each semester.
Betzold said the centre was ongoing search for tutors and posted job openings regularly. One of these posts sparked the interest of Angela Cardenas, a second-year animal science major in Katie, Texas.
Cardenas ran into an ad via TechAnnounce and was immediately intrigued. When she began her research at the Center, she discovered that their work was intimately consistent with her values.
“I found what they strive for, what they stand in, and I actually really love the value and what they’re doing is really amazing,” Cardenas said. “They want to make a difference in the lives of people that many don’t understand. They don’t know that everyone is learning the same thing, they want to do everything they can to get people where they need them.”
A third semester tutor, Cardenas, discovered a sense of community at the Technique Center. The environment, which Betzold said he worked hard to grow for both staff and students, is quickly revealed to everyone walking through the center’s door.
From pairs of students gathered around tables and whiteboards to brightly colored posters sharing snacks and sketch ideas and promoting the themed gatherings at the center, there is an undeniable sense of friendship, along with countless smiles and waves from almost everyone in the room.
Just as important as the people in the room and the bonds they share, Betzold and Cardenas both emphasized the need for tools available to tutors and students alike. Standard university school supplies can be easily remembered: whiteboards, markers, pencils, calculators, notebooks, note cards, blue books, scantrons, etc.
However, students with unique learning methods, such as Techniques Center tutors, often need different tools to best understand the concept they are trying to learn. These tools range from specialized planners and programs that help students organize their schedules, study more effectively, and study to more specific models and designs for students who can better understand through kinesthetic learning.
“Many of our students have learning disabilities, which means they learn differently,” Cardenas said. “These tools make them easier because no one learns the same way. And it just helps you put it in that they understand. You know that you made a difference in their lives and their education, so you see the puzzle pieces that click together.”
While staff and tutors are on-ground boots and support students at the Technique Centre every day, Betzold said these key tools (from the basics to the most advanced) are key components that keep the centre running and are one of the best ways to support students in the program.
This is why Technique Center chose to highlight excellence for Technique Center Funds as part of the Texas Tech Day of Giving Day 2025. The fund serves as the center’s basic support and provides funding everything from student scholarships and tutor training to pencils, markers, paper, games, chemical molecule sets, and virtual anatomy models.
For Betzold, this contribution to the fund represents more than mere support for the education of today’s students. They aim to strengthen the best and brightest in order to build a better future for us tomorrow.
“Our students don’t have a hard time learning because they can’t learn,” Betzold said. “The education environment doesn’t have a way of learning, so they struggle to learn, so if they can come here, do it and get professional support, they’ll go out into the world and become box thinkers.
How can it affect it?
Donate to the Texas Tech Institute of Technology Tech Center or visit the website’s Offer Date for more information on Texas Tech’s offering opportunities.
