Biography

I grew up in San Jose, California. When I was 8 years old I saw Saturn through a telescope for the first time. I instantly wanted to learn everything I could about space. It wasn’t until middle school that I realized that astronomy was applied physics, and that physics requires math. Honestly, upon making that realization my heart sank a bit, because mathematics didn’t come easily to me. But I decided that astronomy was worth it, and so I set about changing my relationship with mathematics.

I had to fight hard to understand each new concept and application. Now, I feel that I have a deeper, more thorough understanding of both mathematics and physics because of the struggle I went through. One of my favorite things when working with students in these subjects is helping them see the wonder I felt when I saw how it can all be applied to things I and they care about. For me it’s astronomy; for others, it’s biology, chemistry, or even art. I just love it!

I discovered my love of learning, and teaching, while pursuing my passion for astronomy and physics at Utah Valley University, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in physics. I found myself working in volunteer outreach to help get youth, especially young women, interested in STEM. I participated in presentations for groups of high school students, helped in elementary school science demos, and taught volunteer classes for girls scouts. As I progressed in my degree, I felt confident enough in my own knowledge to share it with others in a more formal capacity, and turned to working as a teaching assistant and a tutor.

I have experience tutoring physics and astronomy in formal and informal capacities at Utah Valley University as a tutor in the learning center, an instructional assistant, and a freelance tutor; these experiences spanning over three years with hundreds of hours put in. At Utah State University, I taught several sections of physics lab and continued tutoring physics and mathematics in their learning center, spanning about a year. For a shorter period, I also tutored math, astronomy and physics through an online tutoring platform to supplement my work at Utah State. Each experience was different and allowed me to come into my own as a teacher to find ways to relate to each of my students or group of students I was working with. Having such a broad experience base has helped me become more adaptable and customize the learning experience as
much as possible.

My tutoring approach is to do my best to meet my student where they are: whether that be excited, nervous, frustrated, or overwhelmed. I work to get them to where they want to be with the material and support them as independent learners confident in their own abilities. Over time I have seen so many students hesitate to take the next correct step in solving a problem because they don’t trust that they are right. I have seen the realization on student’s faces that they did in fact understand the concept if it had only been explained to them in a different way. My tutoring philosophy is this: you know more that you think you do, and we will work to discover that together!

When I’m not tutoring, I enjoy reading sci-fi/epic fantasy novels, practicing martial arts, and honing my skills in amateur astronomy.