Hi, my name is Aidan! I’m a current undergrad at Princeton. I’m studying math primarily, but I am also interested in computer science, physics, and philosophy. I have a deep passion for learning; I’ve already taken number theory, real analysis, and honors linear algebra, and I also like to read up on various math topics during my free time. While math is definitely my strongest subject, I enjoy helping others creatively solve problems and further their education in computer science and physics as well. In computer science, even at Princeton, I’ve always helped my peers to write code and grasp programming concepts; and it was much the same with physics in high school.
During all four years of high school, I ran cross country and track year round on both JV and varsity, and during my senior year I filled a captain / leadership role. Last summer, I was a lifeguard and a counselor for campers at Barbara C. Harris Camp, in Greenfield, NH. The summer before that, I was a lifeguard in training / junior counselor, and the summer before that I was in a leadership skill building program at the same camp. Through those experiences I gained various skills such as interpersonal communication, leadership, and organizational and planning abilities.
My philosophy towards tutoring and learning (especially in maths) is that it is extremely important to not only know the material, but also to understand on a fundamental level why it is true. For example, anyone can recite the quadratic formula – but in order to really have a complete grasp on it, one needs to understand how it is derived, why there are two solutions, how it relates to completing the square, etc. If you are able to justify why something behaves the way it does, you understand it far better than if you had just memorized it. Because of these things, it is important for a tutor to not only efficiently convey the relevant material to their tutees but also to relate to them and understand how they can best further their education in a given subject.