Megan Gross

Biography

I was born and raised in Fresno, California and despite having plenty of central valley pride, growing up I always wanted to explore other cities. My first journey was to Sacramento where I earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science. In the midst of those years, I studied abroad for a semester in Sydney, Australia which was an incredibly amazing and rewarding experience. It was while I was abroad taking courses in artificial intelligence that I found my area of interest. Upon graduation in 2024, I was on to my next and current adventure attending San Jose State for a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence.

I have always had a passion for helping people in different ways, especially in education and learning. Learning can be such an inspiring and motivating experience, but many times students lack resources to help them when they are struggling. I am motivated to tutor by the “Aha” moment when it clicks for a student, and they understand what they were previously struggling with. I wish I could say I’ve always had a passion for math; however, it simply is not true. During high school and most of my undergraduate degree, I saw math as something to overcome and just persevere through so I could get on to classes I enjoyed. It was during my course work in data science and AI that I came to truly appreciate the math and statistics I had learned. I believe many students also feel similarly about math, which is understandable but also disappointing as math has many great things to teach us.

I previously worked as a computer science tutor for a year at Sacramento State. I tutored mostly introductory programming classes but also had database classes and computational language classes. With this experience, I learned how to be an effective communicator, connect with students, and inspire them to learn and succeed in their classes. I learned how to communicate my thoughts, ideas, and understanding of problems to students who may not have much prior knowledge. From my educational career, I noticed many times that professors were so highly educated that sometimes they weren’t able to simplify answers and would only confuse the students asking questions. These moments motivated me to start with a ground-up ideology where concepts get simplified and are easily understood, and then add on complexity with each new level of understanding.

My goals when it comes to tutoring are to inspire confidence in students that they are capable of succeeding, and to teach them good problem-solving habits that they can apply even when I am not there. I always aim to connect with my students and create a comfortable learning environment where they are not afraid to ask questions or be wrong. Outside of tutoring, I spend my time crafting. I have a passion for crocheting, embroidery, baking, reading, painting, and drawing. I love trying new crafts and am always looking for new inspiration. A less frequent hobby that I enjoy is surfing! I have surfed in Australia, Hawaii, and California.