Matt

Certified Tutor

I graduated from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN in May of 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in biology. My life long goal has been to attend medical school, so since my graduation I have been taking some upper level classes, studying for the MCAT, being a mentor for a 4th grader, a hospice volunteer, as well as volunteering at the food bank near me. I have formal tutoring/TA experience during my time at undergrad when I helped teach physics. I have much more informal experience teaching in my classes in small groups, as well as at a summer intensive MCAT program talking with my fellow students to work though dense material. My father taught me at a very young age, that if you can teach someone something that means you really know it, during every class I attend I keep that in mind. My mom taught me in middle school that it is “cool” to be smart and do well in school, which is a lesson that I think some young kids need to learn. Teaching these lessons as well as content is something that I am passionate about. My first year at college, I struggled a lot, and one of the reasons for this is I didn’t ask anyone for help. Since that rough year, I have asked for help when I needed and worked much harder to improve my performance in school. My favorite subjects to learn about, and in-turn teach are anything having to do with biology. I love learning about biology because the concepts are all around you, and you can go into as much detail or as surface level as you want. My favorite thing about biology is when you are sitting in class, or reading a book and your mind just gets blown—you understand a concept or connect the dots. I think my teaching style would be to keep things exciting but also get down to work. The best way for me to learn is to talk about concepts and then do problems, and while I work on problems I like to work through problems with someone who knows more then me. I think I would try and use this technique with students because it is so helpful for me. Something that I didn’t realize in high school was how important grades are and how critical it is to learn the material. Excelling in high school leads to opportunities in college and beyond, a lesson I would love to teach to today’s students. Outside of academia I enjoy watching football and basketball, playing tennis, reading, running, and going to the cabin with my family.