What is your hometown?

Kasigluk, Alaska

What hobbies, sports, or interests light you up?

I love music and writing (crazy, I know), but I do happen to enjoy other things as well. I love curling up with a good book in bed on the weekends, going on long bike rides around Forest Grove farm country. One of my favorite pastimes is beading jewelry, particularly earrings, and you can find me sitting in my room for hours at a time, poring over my beads with the worst posture imaginable.

What is your specialty as a tutor? What topic, problem, subject, or process do you most enjoy helping students to learn?

My favorite tutoring moment is the moment when the student realizes they no longer need me! The hope of every tutor is that their job will become obsolete; we want you to grow and become a peer tutor yourself. Our goal as tutors isn't to catch you fish, but to teach you how to catch fish for yourself (isn't that some old proverb or something I'm quoting?), and we're never happier than when you're able to do it on your own. It's all about the growth!

Which of the CLASS 5 Keys – Respect, Inclusion, Growth, Support, and Pizzazz - resonates with you the most and how do you put it into practice in your work as a tutor?

My personal favorite of the 5 Keys has to be Growth, because it's what I firmly put my belief in as a tutor but also as a student. You won't understand everything in a subject today, tomorrow, or ever, but you'll always be able to grow towards more understanding. Our job as tutors isn't to teach you what you need to do, but to teach you how to come to those conclusions on your own. It's way more about growth than it is about learning or passing classes!

What is your best advice for students on how to get the most out of their academic experience in college?

Take joy in the process of learning. It won't always be fun, and as a fellow college student I cannot lie to you about this, but much of it depends on your mindset. Are you taking this class "because you have to for your major?" Or do you have the privilege of taking this class and learning more about epiphytes than you ever thought possible as a music major? Sit in the front row and ask your questions, because it pays off to be curious and engaged.

Give us a movie quotation, song lyric, or line from a book that will motivate us in our learning.

"Just keep swimming!" -Dory:)