Hometown: Vienna, VA
Grade: 4th year PhD
Major: Computer Science
What school do you serve? Ida B. Wells School for Social Justice (UW). I tutored at Ingraham High School in previous quarters.
How long have you been with MESA? This is my third quarter tutoring with MESA.
Why did you join MESA? I felt that my life revolved around a UW bubble and computer science bubble and wanted to find a meaningful way escape that world. Looking for ways to be more involvement with the community I found MESA tutoring and thought I would give it a try. I had volunteered with the Peace Corps after undergrad teaching Math and Science so felt that tutoring would be a good fit.
What do you like most about tutoring for MESA? I like that we’re reaching out to the community and getting the chance to interact with local students and teachers. I think that MESA tutoring can assist teachers in a unique way.
What are the challenges that you’ve faced when tutoring? I haven’t had any challenges with tutoring, most of the challenges I’ve faced are logistical. For example, when the students have a test or they do not have homework that week, I don’t end up tutoring. High schools are an unpredictable and dynamic environment which doesn’t always work well with a structured UW class.
Fun fact(s) about yourself: I’m working on juggling clubs and riding my unicycle at the same time. I used to play the trombone.
Hobbies and Interests: Backpacking, reading, working on my computer and trying out new OSes
If you could be one pizza ingredient, what would you be and why? Vegan cheese, nobody knows what vegan cheese is made of and I like to be an enigma.
Interviewed by Jia Jun Chia, Tutor