PrepNow Tutor - Lucia B.
Lucia reads a great deal and, as such, is full of unique bits of information. She holds a BS in chemical engineering with a concentration in writing and humanistic studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduating, she entered the semiconductor industry, where she worked in process engineering, research and development, marketing, and sales. Her last official corporate position was as a project leader, which led her to become an expert in warewash, laundry technologies, hard surface sanitation, and food safety.
Lucia became interested in tutoring when her oldest son started calculus when he was eleven. “While maneuvering the education system (and its constraints), I realized that our current system only advocates for 50% of its population,” Lucia says. “This means that the remaining half either have to flex to learn or they are left behind. I decided to help at a school as a paraprofessional, but I learned quickly that the red tape and politics within our education system is not helpful to disadvantaged students.” Lucia loves connecting with her students and finding the right approach to explain a subject they’re struggling to understand. She has been tutoring now for over half a decade, teaching middle school and high school math and science, writing, and SAT/ACT prep.
“I believe that our brain is only capable of learning in spurts,” Lucia explains. “When teaching, I break up facts and problems by changing the subject temporarily and then returning back to the topic. I try to make the subjects relevant: why are we learning this, how will this be useful in the real world?” Her teaching style is a meshed variant of a program called Strategic Selling, where she works to identify "red flags" (barriers), "green flags" (successes"), and “yellow flags” (complacencies). “Reevaluating what you're doing at any given time, and showing the ability to change as needed, is the key to success,” she says. “If a student isn't learning, I want that feedback so I can find a new way to attack the subject.”
In high school, she was a member of the speech, debate, and math teams. Lucia has written four YA novels that she published online. In 2014, she mentored six gifted children on science projects, and three went on to win awards and one was selected to represent the district at the state fair. She loves to bake and cook. People say she’s the female version of Cliff from Cheers, but less obnoxious. Lucia almost didn't graduate from MIT because she nearly failed the swim test after hitting her head against the wall. Thankfully, she was given a few minutes to recuperate and try again.
