I’ve always had a penchant for teaching, which first manifested in explaining fascinating concepts I learned in my classes to family and friends, and later developed into more serious educational roles. The “Aha!” moments a student experiences when they finally understand a concept they had been struggling with are deeply rewarding and make one-on-one education an extremely satisfying experience for me.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area and stayed local for college, recently graduating from Stanford University with a B.S. in mathematics and an M.S. in computer science. During my college years, I discovered my deep love for mathematics, and in particular for teaching mathematics.

Calculus is a remarkable subject in math, since it allows us to solve so many interesting problems which come up in real life just by introducing the concept of a limit. I strive to not only help students learn how to use calculus to solve problems, but also understand why calculus works. Often is the case that a student is struggling to understand how to answer a particular type of question because they lack an understanding of a proof of an earlier theorem.

My earliest teaching experiences were through Stanford’s Splash program, where I had the opportunity to craft mini-courses on fun topics and give them to high school students. During my last two quarters of college, I was head teaching assistant for an undergraduate course on proofs and discrete math. This role served as excellent practice for working one-on-one with students as I guided them through the course content and helped with assignments in office hours, and also helped develop administrative and organization skills as I led a team of 15 TAs to ensure that the course was being maintained a well-oiled machine and served as the primary liaison between students and the course. Earlier this summer, I designed and taught a 2-week course on linear algebra to high school students. This experience helped me gain valuable insight into curriculum design and managing course logistics. Also this summer, I was a counselor for a high school summer math camp in Boston. During the program, I was assigned 4 students to guide through the course material. This included grading their homework assignments and holding one-on-one tutoring and review sessions to patch up concepts they were having trouble with.

My tutoring approach is largely socratic—I will often answer a student’s question with another question, one which guides them further towards the answer they seek. Everyone understands concepts differently, and I believe learning is only possible when the student is discovering their own personal understanding through their own exploration but with the help of a guiding mentor to lead them in the right direction. The more a student feels like they have figured out the answer to their question on their own, the more confident they will feel towards the material and the more likely they will be to improve more quickly.

When I am not tutoring, I enjoy playing piano rags, going on hikes, and exploring new cuisines.