PrepNow Tutor - Tia T.
Tia first felt the call to be an educator during the start of the pandemic. Beginning in 2020 and continuing for a couple years, she virtually tutored a high-school peer in algebra. Next, she earned a BS with honors in neuroscience and a BA in Spanish from Tulane University. During her entire tenure at Tulane, Tia tutored middle-schoolers in general mathematics and reading as part of the University’s volunteer program. She also worked for a year with student athletes in economics and neuroscience courses. She is excited to continue her educational pathway at StudyPoint and looks forward to inspiring confidence and ability in her students.
Indeed, for Tia, inspiring students to be confident in themselves is a primary goal. She has seen how building relationships fosters motivation and open-mindedness, and she knows how important those things are to student success. She says, “I place great emphasis on collaboration and connection; even taking just five minutes at the beginning of sessions to ask students about their weekends, interests, and hobbies makes students more comfortable and builds motivation.” With true motivation, she says, students can do things they would once have considered impossible. Tia points as evidence of this fact to a student who came to Tia with a discouraged mindset and a defeatist attitude at the outset. By continually building a supportive environment around the student, Tia ultimately helped that student to reach new heights. She says, “It was extremely fulfilling to watch as her default mantra, ‘I can’t do this,’ turned into confident questions and even assertive answers.”
Outside of work, Tia likes to be pretty active. In high school and for the club team in college, Tia swam competitively. In fact, she still trains for open swim meets in the community. She also loves to go outdoors, particularly enjoying birdwatching and visiting nature preserves. Finally, for those moments when she wants to wind down, Tia has always loved to read. She best summarizes its meaning to her: “Reading is a longtime passion, and diving into fantastical worlds gave me belonging through many relocations as a child and continues to nurture my imagination.”
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