With an MIT degree and love of all things STEM, Maria knows the value of curiosity and its power inside and outside the classroom. She attended a vocational high school, studying under electricians for 4 years. Her Environmental Engineering degree led her to visit farmers in India, get dirty with waste-pickers in Nicaragua, and chase volcanic smog around Hawaii.

Yet every experience has built her passion for unlocking student potential. Since 2011, she has continually tutored, first for work-study, then the AmeriCorps program City Year, then as a full-time career.

Maria has a passion for unlocking potential not only in grades and conceptual understanding, but also in self-esteem and the joy of learning. She loves to help students combine vulnerability and effort to invigorate their academic lives as well as their emotional, social, and/or faith lives. In any given tutoring session, you may find Maria:

• Becoming overly enthusiastic about percents and fractions
• Convincing skeptics that tests are fun, or
• Sharing openly about life lessons she wished had been taught in school.

Fun Facts: Maria is a jack of all trades: handy around the house, makes all-chocolate versions of board games, and dances competitively with the MIT Ballroom Dance Team. She is very involved in her church and has a passion for serving the homeless and those in prison.