Hi there!

I am an experienced teacher with a graduate degree from Duke University. At Duke, I served as a public policy teaching assistant, helping undergraduate students improve their writing and political analysis skills under three renowned professors. I have comprehensive knowledge of English grammar and punctuation, as well as an extensive vocabulary and can help you, too, with your writing skills.

Before enrolling at Duke, I scored a combined 1530 on the GRE (780 quantitative, 750 verbal) and a 5.5 on the writing skills portion of the exam.

I also have reached high levels of German proficiency in the 20 years since I first began to study that language. Specifically, I took the ACTFL written exam and scored “advanced high” and later took the DLPT exam and scored a 2 (advanced) on the listening portion of the test and a 3 (superior, which was the highest score) on the reading portion of the test. On account of my German skills, I tested out of my undergraduate degree’s foreign language requirement. I also obtained a TOEFL certification in 2008 that further supports my ability to understand how to teach a language and was permitted by the state of North Carolina to teach German in high school.

Finally, I have been playing chess for over 20 years and in that time have beaten numerous master-level (NM, CM, FM, IM) players. I was actually playing the Queen’s Gambit long before it became a Netflix show! My peak blitz ratings on chess.com and lichess are approximately 2175 and 2250 respectively. My strengths are openings knowledge, understanding of different pawn structures, ability to defend, and positional understanding.

Whether you’re interested in improving your writing skills, your German or your chess abilities, I would love to help. Let’s get to work!