Mechanisms or Mandatos: Your UGA Tutor for Orgo and Spanish

Charlotte L.

I'm a student at the University of Georgia pursuing a B.A. in Spanish and a B.S. in Microbiology, with minors in chemistry and bioethics, and I'm on the pre-med track (expected to graduate in May 2028). I earned an A in Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 and now work in the UGA Department of Chemistry as a Peer Learning Assistant for both.
My work as a PLA includes leading recitation sections (workshop-style), answering questions during recitation, writing the worksheet keys (annotated with my own teaching notes), weekly meetings with the professors on how to best help students learn/how to explain concepts, and supporting students during lecture. This puts me in a classroom every week with college students working through the exact material I tutor, so I know where people tend to get stuck and what professors expect on exams.

I've been tutoring Spanish one on one since the fall of my junior year of high school, both in person and online. Most of my Spanish students are high schoolers in Spanish 1 through AP. I started tutoring Organic Chemistry in May, and most of my orgo students are college students, often my age or older.

My approach is the same in both subjects: I don't just give answers. In orgo, I teach students to ask two questions: what is this problem actually asking, and what do I already know that matches it? Once that clicks, mechanisms and stereochemistry stop feeling like memorization. In Spanish, I focus on grammar fundamentals and speaking confidence, and I build practice around each student's interests (sports, hobbies, whatever they're into) so it feels relevant and not just boring.