Rachel: Palos Heights tutor

Certified Tutor

I graduated with a BS in Biochemistry from Abilene Christian University in 2007 and then went on to receive my PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 2016. After graduating, I was an Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry at Murray State University for 3 years. While I loved teaching there, i recently moved to Chicago for family reasons.
Teaching really is my passion and nothing gets me more excited as an educator than having a student tell me they are excited about the material. Unfortunately, however, chemistry is often perceived to be impossible to understand and completely irrelevant. My goal as a tutor is to ensure that when students leave my sessions, they see that neither of these perceptions is accurate. Specifically, I stress chemistry's role in and relatability to both their real lives and their future science classes and careers. To do this, I focus on the students' retention and understanding of the material by presenting it in a variety of formats and by using numerous real world examples.
When I'm not teaching, I enjoy baking (the yummiest type of chemistry!), being outdoors, and hanging out with my husband and 11 year old Dachshund.