Math tutor profile
Anthonie Nichols has been doing the same math problems for seven years. No, he’s not in hell. He’s a tutor.
Nichols said he started tutoring because it was better than working as a janitor at Logan High School, but stayed because he enjoys working with people.
While he no longer works in the university tutoring lab, Nichols is a private math tutor and a statistics recitation instructor.
“Watching someone’s face go from confusion or consternation to epiphany and to watch their confidence change is the best part,” he said.
It’s a transformation Nichols said he understands. He said math was his lowest ACT score and he was an English major when he originally came to school. However, as he went through school, he accumulated math credits and finally decided to become a math major, but he became discouraged when he realized he would have to take four math classes a semester to graduate. Now, almost ready to graduate, Nichols said he is preparing for a career as an actuary.
After having worked with many students throughout his years as a tutor, Nichols said the biggest problems people have with math are insufficient background and emotional blocks.
“Math gets to be an emotional issue as well as academic,” he said. “That impacts performance as much as the background issue.”
The best way to work through frustration with math is to work through single concepts instead of “drowning in an ocean,” Nichols said. He said by having smaller successes, students are able to change their attitude about math and begin to believe they can grasp the concepts. Trevor Canney, USU graduate in international agribusiness, said when he realized he would have to retake statistics to graduate, he immediately called the tutor his cousin recommended.
“Everyone knows if you’re in stats or calc, get Anthonie right away,” Cranney said. “Anthonie could probably teach a third grader statistics and have them understand it.”
Cranney said he has worked with tutors before who are just trying to make money and don’t really care about the student. He said Nichols is very intelligent but also personable and down to earth. Cranney said he thought Nichols was a good tutor because he holds students responsible. He said Nichols wants to help but also wants students to do their part. Cranney said one of his favorite things about Nichols is that he not only knows math, but also can speak backwards fluently. Little quirks like that are what make Nichols a fun person to work with and help put students at ease, Cranney said.
“He always has a smile and a wave,” he said. “Always very sincere.”
The chance to interact with people is a favorite part of the job, Nichols said. For him, tutoring was “not a quest to save the world,” but rather an opportunity to make money while helping people. On top of his own schooling, Nichols said he tutors about 15 hours a week in the beginning of the semester and about 45 hours a week by the end of the semester.
“If I wasn’t interacting with people, I wouldn’t be able to do eight to 11 hours of math a day,” he said.
di.lewis@aggiemail.usu.edu