Samantha

Certified Tutor

After growing up in Littleton, CO, I graduated from Duke University with Magna Cum Laude honors, a double major in International Comparative Studies and French, and a minor in Arabic. I also received Distinction in the ICS department after completing a 115-page senior honors thesis analyzing the issues and implications of the politics and history that affect Muslim women in France who wear headscarves. Much of my research involved French sources and I spent three weeks conducting my own primary research in Paris in the form of interviews. I also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris for six months during my junior year as an undergraduate. The paper I wrote during my sophomore year that acted as the inspiration for this thesis was published in a journal of Middle Eastern and North African affairs and won a human rights prize at Duke in 2012.
I have tutored and taught French and English at various levels in the past and as an accomplished French speaker and writer myself, I am able to help students develop these areas in their own education. My tutoring methods include a hands-on approach where students not only study new material but also get opportunities to practice what they have learned to further develop those skills through activities and exercises that demonstrate usage in different situations.
I currently work in the evenings a few nights each week, but my daytime availability during the week and on weekends is relatively open, as are the evenings I am not scheduled to work, which are flexible as well.
In addition to tutoring, I am passionate about volunteer work and I can be found on Habitat for Humanity construction sites in some of my spare time. I also usually have at least two or three arts and crafts projects in progress to unleash my creative energy. Music, books, animals, travel, and teaching are the essentials giving me life!