When I was 10, I decided that when I was old enough, I wanted to be one of the lifeguards who worked at a wading pool for the summer. They looked so cool, and I wanted to be cool.
Spoiler alert: I’ve never been cool, then or now.
As soon as I turned 16, I took my NLS (National Lifeguard Service) course, first aid course, and swimming instructor course. Boom! Qualified lifeguard.
It took a few years of lifeguarding before I made it to a wading pool, but I did get there eventually. I actually spent most of my pool time teaching swimming lessons: Learn to Swim lessons for children and adults, as well as a variety of fitness classes. This continued throughout my entire lifeguarding career, and I loved it.
There’s a great feeling of accomplishment when you are able to gain the trust of a very scared three-year-old and have them jumping into the pool with abandon just eight weeks later.
I continued lifeguarding through university. I attended the University of Guelph and received a Bachelor of Science, with Specialized Honours in Chemistry.
After university, I worked as an Application Scientist for a large instrumentation company. I travelled across North America installing equipment, helping customers get set up, troubleshooting problems, and teaching users how to make the most of their systems. This was another job I loved. I especially enjoyed helping people understand how something worked and figuring out what was getting in their way.
After having kids, travelling at a moment’s notice became significantly harder. As a family, we made the decision for me to stay home with the little ones.
Over time, I’ve come to realize that the part of my jobs I liked the most was helping people: helping people learn and helping people solve problems.
That’s what I aim to do as a tutor. Sometimes that means explaining a difficult concept. Sometimes it means working through a problem together. And sometimes it means helping a student figure out how to approach all the work that has piled up.
My goal is to provide students with strategies to solve problems and the support they need to make the most of their education.