Thomas

Certified Tutor

I am a Virginia Beach native and a 2011 alum of the University of Oklahoma. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and a Bachelor of Music in Composition. After working for a Fortune 500 company in the Great Lakes region for two years, I decided to move closer to home and start a career as a private tutor in order to better engage my intellect and creativity at work.

I have provided music lessons and academic help on a professional and a peer-to-peer basis, as time permitted, for the last eight years. My experience includes mentoring for the JCOC Kids Club program and the U. of Okla. K20 college-bound program, presenting Brain Awareness exhibits as a member of the Society for Neuroscience, and assistant coaching a high school Mock Trial team.

Tutoring goes best when the student is motivated, and I have two main approaches to motivating my students. First, context- a topic isn't interesting or important 'just because', we have to discover how it's related to our whole world and especially to things the student already knows they care about. Second, getting to know the student- everyone has unique talents, tendencies, and goals. There is an area of overlap between each school subject (even standardized tests, which require critical thinking!) and a student's goals, and it's usually bigger than it first appears. A star athlete doesn't just need to pass English to graduate; she needs to be able to write a well organized and error-free letter. In time, I'd hope to become the kind of tutor a student wants to impress, and whose tips and tag lines come to mind at unexpected moments even after the student is off to new adventures.