Attentive High School Tutor

Sophia S.

I’m Sophia, an undergraduate Civil Engineering student at California Polytechnic State University - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I’m pursuing a BS degree in Civil Engineering with a current 3.5 GPA and have made the Dean’s List for two consecutive quarters. I graduated from La Jolla High School with a 4.2 GPA. My coursework includes Calculus I-IV, Linear Algebra, Physics I, and Chemistry I. Outside of academics, I have completed Narcan training and have years of teaching/tutoring experience.

As a swim instructor for over two years, I worked primarily with elementary and middle school students in one-on-one lessons. In this role, I learned to adapt every lesson to each student’s needs by using a variety of approaches. These approaches included explaining concepts verbally, providing visual demonstrations, and using relatable analogies such as food or animals.

I also volunteered at my high school math club for a few months where we tutored the middle school math team. As part of one of the small tutoring teams, I collaborated with 2-3 instructors on a weekly basis to design lesson slides and present them to a group of 4-10 students. I used the skills and methods I learned as a swim instructor to guide me through these tutoring sessions. Through our lesson slides, we taught these students about new math concepts and helped them become more proficient with familiar concepts. Similar to swim lessons, we clarified any conceptual misunderstandings and guided students through practice problems to reinforce learning.
Rather than simply giving students the answers, I worked alongside them to build understanding, confidence, and independence. I believe that true academic success comes from mastering concepts in a way that makes future coursework easier, not just checking off assignments. These experiences strengthened my ability to balance encouragement and patience with constructive feedback so that students feel supported while being challenged.