PrepNow Tutor - Bodhi L.
“I love teaching because I love learning,” says Bodhi. “As an educator I am engaging, light-hearted, and adaptable. As an academic I am humble, curious, and open-minded.” Bodhi graduated from the University of Minnesota summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in psychology. As an undergrad, he served as both a teaching assistant and a research assistant. He still works as a research assistant and plans on attending graduate school. He is deeply passionate about education because “I have found nothing to be more valuable or powerful, in an increasingly divided world, than the opportunity to learn.”
Bodhi started teaching his sophomore year of college almost by chance. During his freshman psychology class, the professor asked him to work as a teaching assistant for the course. It became “the most rewarding and plain fun part of” his undergraduate career. It also helped him realize he wanted to pursue teaching at the college level. As a teaching assistant, Bodhi was tasked with lecturing to a group of students before leading a discussion. Though he was one of very few undergraduates in the position, his group performed well in class metrics. While psychology is often considered a soft science, Bodhi does not approach it as such. He is interested in empirical research so he edified himself with a strong mathematical foundation including calculus and statistics.
“When teaching, I really try to be adaptable to students,” Bodhi says. He values in himself the ability to explain a concept in different ways, in the event that a student is struggling to understand. “An explanation or description of a concept is only high quality if it works for the student receiving it.” He explains that his goal is to break material down in ways that are comprehensible to the student he’s speaking with. He also strives to be both patient and compassionate. “I understand every student comes from a different place with different experiences and knowledge, and it is my job to be understanding and committed to the student’s success.”
As a high school student, Bodhi played baseball and basketball. He was also a member of the Students Against Destructive Decisions club and the environmental club. In college he joined the industrial organizational psychology club. Outside of school, Bodhi enjoys stories—whether in the form of novels or movies. He also likes weightlifting. Bodhi has cats named Sophie and Colin and a dog named Vinny.
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