Hello!

My name is Michael - or Mike (whichever you like : ) - and I am an American living in Maryland. I have my Bachelor of Science in Psychology, I interned at the largest inpatient drug/alcohol treatment center for teens my senior year.

In addition to that introduction to working with kids I realized that I wanted to help them; only I wanted to do so BEFORE anyone gets into trouble with alcohol or drugs.

I taught in Seoul, S. Korea from 2012-2013 and had an amazing experience! More recently, I was employed as the coordinator of a busy local library's 6 day/week After-School program. As this position was aimed to keep kids out of trouble directly after school for 2 hours, I would help students with their middle and high school homework, along with organizing fun games and activities for them.

As my position ended when Schools in MD closed due to COVID-19, I decided to use my stimulus check to enroll in a 150 hour, 3 month TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certification. Although, as I mentioned I had already taught for a year in Korea - teaching Debate, Library, Integrated Learning, Reading, and Writing - South Korea is unique since they do not require this certification for applicants that have a 4 year degree, which I did have already.

I decided that I wanted to travel and teach again, so I completed the course along with a 20 hour Practicum.

For my practicum, I co-taught a 2 hour lesson via a large non-profit in Washington, D.C.; Washington English Center. They provide education to immigrants and individuals working to improve their English skills for a variety of reasons. So, using their corporate Zoom account, it was a great experience to actually do online teaching for the first time (to complete my first time taking a class online, myself!)

It was a great experience and I am excited to continue to use the power of the internet to help kids learn. The classroom experience has been interrupted in drastic ways for the past year. I want to be a part of the healing process and offer a service that is not only needed now more than ever, but also to hopefully give students and teachers both a chance to be safe without falling behind on intellectual development. Having a platform to remain engaged with students all over is super exciting!!!
I'm very proud to be a part of the Varsity Tutor team!

- MiKe-