"When I think of the work I did with Liz over my four years at NMH, a few things jump to mind: mind mapping, free writing, think of sentences as Lego bricks, find your voice. These all trace back to the reason I first got a tutor: to help me develop study strategies and learn how to write essays. As an international student and non-native English speaker (and a bit of a perfectionist), writing essays was initially a very difficult task. I didn’t know how to start. Even though I still take a while to settle on what I want to write about and how I want to craft my argument, I now have a set process I go through—thanks to Liz. I first do a mind map—maybe two—and then free write for some time, and settle on a master outline where I pair evidence with my own analysis, identify topic sentences, and develop an argument based on the evidence I've gathered and unpacked. Liz taught me how to break down an assignment into these steps, and guided me through the process, giving advice as I went from mind mapping on the whiteboard to free writing on paper and then crafting an outline on my computer. Eventually came the revisions of drafts and comments. Streamline. Separate into two different sentences. Work on transition sentences. This was just the beginning of what Liz taught me.

 

My favorite part of the writing process with Liz were the initial conversations we had about the assignment. This was the moment she often brought in references to books she had read and talked about her life experiences, while other times making points to social justice issues, equality, or poetic life metaphors. Moreover, by developing my own personal reasons as to why I care about certain issues—further questioning what I identified with and eventually what I wanted my mark on the world to be—Liz opened room for me to make connections of my own outside the class material.

 

Liz is an amazing tutor, who cares about the integral education and well-being of her students; beyond the work we did together, she became a life mentor and friend."

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