Our Professional Academic and Test Prep Tutors Are Now Online!
We’ll help you navigate the test taking maze, share our experience with your local school, and inspire your student.
I have always been fascinated by psychology: figuring out how people work, what makes them tick and why. As I grew up, this showed itself in two ways: acting and teaching. When I started at Whittier College, I knew I had to continue to pursue education and theatre. However, a double major in education and theatre felt overly narrow for my interests; I love math, psychology, and how psychology relates to education and theatre. I decided to create my own major so I could reach beyond the normal undergraduate experience. I took courses in theatre, art, psychology, child development, and education, giving me a base upon which to apply theatrical and physiological principles to my teaching. I completed my bachelor’s with a self-designed major in embodied pedagogy and performance and a self-designed minor in mathematical concepts.
My passion for an individualized education was born from personal necessity. I started taking ownership of my educational experience early in life as a result of learning disabilities, which made a traditional middle and high school experience unworkable. I struggled to have my deep understanding of the course content reflect in my scores. My concept comprehension was constantly put into question because I couldn’t remember to turn in my homework, I had trouble with the fine motor skills of using a pencil, and my brain was exhausted from sitting still all day. As I learned strategies that helped me work with my learning disabilities instead of working against them or pretending they weren’t there, my scores improved, and I was able to unleash my passion for learning. Understanding how my own brain worked within the education system inspired me to help my classmates with their math and English assignments.
I saw math as intuitive and as a puzzle, and I enjoyed showing my classmates the connections that helped me understand concepts. I quickly realized that many people feel that math doesn’t make sense, but I could show them that math is one of the only things that makes sense universally. While not everyone shared my enthusiasm, I was always able to help improve their understanding. It was fun for me to help others, and it gave me insight into how their brains worked.
Though I had always enjoyed informally tutoring my classmates and younger sister, my journey as a professional tutor started in college. For two years, I tutored fellow college students with academic needs ranging from improving study skills and working with their personal learning style to preparing for finals and general concept comprehension. I worked with students enrolled in classes ranging from pre-algebra to calculus. I have also pursued my interests as a collaborator at Tinkering School (an overnight summer camp). For the past 7 summers, I have taught people from ages 8 to 17 to use power tools safely and facilitated physical and emotional safety as they build things physically and metaphorically bigger than themselves. Tinkering School’s educational philosophy has helped shape my own: it’s important to say, “Yes, let’s try it!”, to practice empathy and active listening, and to build a rapport of reciprocal trust and respect.
At AJ, I apply the skills I have gained from my experiences as a college tutor, a collaborator, a lifelong learner, a math enthusiast, a cat lover, a thespian, a gymnast, a dancer, and a proud neuroatypical member of the LGBT+ community to help others develop a deeper understanding of their subject matter and of themselves.
 
We’ll help you navigate the test taking maze, share our experience with your local school, and inspire your student.
Please fill out this form and one of our directors will get in touch with you as soon as possible, or you can call us at (650) 331-3251.