What are you struggling with?

That's the first question I ask new students in our first session together. Understanding the unique problems and bad habits facing a student is the first step in creating a customized learning plan to help get over those hurdles.

Growing up with severe ADHD, I learned firsthand how vital it is to create a learning process which treats the student as an individual, tailored to their strengths, habits, and weaknesses. Over many frustrating years, I learned how to create a personal curriculum for myself, which in turn has taught me how to do the same for my students.

I focus on conceptual understanding and pattern recognition in all of my sessions, rather than "tricks" or rote memorization. These skills require practice, but they are absolutely critical to building a strong foundation for future learning. That's why I go to the effort to include background information and explain the lower levels of abstraction that so often make the difference between memorizing *facts* and learning *skills.*

This focused approach enabled me to place in the 99th percentile nationwide on the PSAT and SAT, win the title of National Merit Scholar, and earn a full-ride merit scholarship to one of the largest schools in the country, all despite my learning difficulties. There I am currently a senior in the Honors program, on track to graduate summa cum laude, and approaching completion of an undergraduate thesis on my work in the university's nanotechnology lab.

These opportunities have unambiguously changed my life, and I'm always happy to help more young minds reach their goals. Examples of my teaching experience include two semesters of tutoring at the high-school level and three semesters as a paid teaching assistant for my university. I teach a wide variety of subjects, including math, essay writing, critical thinking, biochemistry, and object-oriented programming.

Outside of the classroom and lab, I love to play volleyball, swim, run, and meet new people! After graduation, I hope to win a US Fulbright grant to teach in rural Indonesia before pursuing a PhD in biochemistry. Learning was my first love, but teaching is my passion, and I would love to eventually become a professor and conduct research on the biochemistry of longevity. I hope the Varsity platform will allow me to have the opportunity to help more students reach their own goals in school, college, and beyond!