About Me

I am a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. I received my Bachelor of Arts from the interdisciplinary College of Social Studies and earned certificates in South Asian studies, international relations, and social, cultural, and critical theory. I graduated with honors for my senior thesis which explored the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. I was awarded both the Davenport Grant for study of public affairs and the Tololyan Fund for study of diasporas and transnationalism, with which I was able to traverse the Indian subcontinent, interview family members, and conduct independent research. This experience confirmed my love for stories and their potential to build compassion, and so upon graduation, I continued pursuing historical, archival, and educational work as a William J. Clinton Fellow with the American India Foundation. I spent my fellowship year traveling across the country as a story scholar with the 1947 Partition Archive, collecting the oral histories of Partition survivors and helping them realize the potential of their own stories in facilitating greater cooperation between communities for generations to come. I am similarly passionate about helping students as a means of helping them realize their own potentialmy ultimate goal, far more important than just going over any particular subject material or standardized test. Since high school I have developed curriculums and tutored students in areas like character education for elementary schoolers, college essay writing for underprivileged high schoolers, and standardized test-taking for all ages. My teaching philosophy revolves around the idea that my success as a tutor depends on my ability to address the student in particular, given their background, behavior, and aspirations. This draws on my own experience as a student in the personalized, small classes offered at a small liberal arts school like Wesleyan. As a result, my philosophy often translates into a teaching style that draws heavily on high-level devices like stories, analogies, and real-life experiences tailored for the student. Together, we can then boil down the big picture into relatable specifics through which one can find the answer. The process can be thought of almost as putting together a jigsaw puzzle: my role will be to come up with and find the pieces before guiding the student to learn how exactly they can be put together, so he or she will always be ready next time they encounter such a problem. Though my expertise and passion in the social scienceseconomics, history, political science, philosophyis obvious given my academic background, I also have extensive work experience in computer science and programming that I am eager to share with my students. In high school I excelled with standardized tests like the ACT and SAT, in addition to a variety of subjects in the AP curriculum. I look forward to the opportunity to help students in as many of these areas as needed to ensure a solid academic foundation for whatever future successes they aspire toward. Since returning to NYC, I have also worked as an independent writer and musician, with plans for graduate school in the interdisciplinary South Asian studies and the release of my debut album, consisting of songs written during my year in India.

Education & Certifications

Q&A with Zain

Tutoring Subjects