PrepNow Tutor - Ashley C.
As a tutor, teacher, and coach, Ashley has a broad range of experience: she has tutored math from first grade through college level, instructed in SAT prep, and also worked extensively with physics students in both high school and college. Ashley has several degrees: a BS in applied physics from Pacific Lutheran University; a BS in mathematics from Pacific Lutheran University; an MS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology; and an MS in physics from Georgia Institute of Technology. After her undergraduate degrees, Ashley attended graduate school, where she did research related to lunar science and did extensive teaching and tutoring. She is now tutoring upon completion of her graduate programs.
When Ashley was in middle school, she started helping her younger brothers with their math homework; then in high school, she officially started tutoring. In college, she continued tutoring and also was a teaching assistant for high school physics and for lower-level college classes.
"While I have had tutoring accomplishments, such as helping increase grades from failing to excelling, the accomplishments that are the most meaningful to me are when students who previously hated a subject grow to love it because they now understand and appreciate it," explains Ashley. She is especially proud of motivating those students to pursue a career in that field. Ashley has worked at several tutoring and coaching companies as a math and physics tutor; she has also been a teaching assistant in high school physics classes and taught general physics labs while an undergraduate. Moreover, she has volunteered as a coach and mentor for organizations that teach robotics and coding (and other STEM-related fields) to children.
Ashley's tutoring style focuses heavily on finding and correcting fundamental errors in understanding and building student confidence. "I'm more likely to ask leading questions that help the student to solve the problem on their own than show them how to do it step-by-step," she offers. "But I will also take the student's level and learning style into account to ensure my tutoring approach will work for that student specifically." Every student is unique, Ashley fully realizes, so her tutoring style is geared specifically to a student's needs.
In high school, Ashley did triathlons and long-distance running and harp ensemble. In college, she did harp ensemble and mentored students as they built and learned to fly airplanes.
Currently, Ashley loves reading, sewing, swimming, hiking, drawing, gardening, and playing board games. "I have the cutest pet bunny in the world named Magnolia," she says.