UPchieve Student Spotlight: Meet Elisa!
Welcome to the UPchieve Student Spotlight series, where we highlight the great, hard-working students that have used UPchieve to help them find success at school. Students featured in this series have used UPchieve for everything from math homework help to help getting ready for college.
Read on to learn more about these amazing students, and the impact they feel UPchieve’s tutoring platform has had in their lives.
Today, we’d like you to meet Elisa. Elisa is a junior from Connecticut considering multiple career paths. Some days, she’s an aspiring professor; on others, a budding computer scientist! She’s confident that a college degree is in her future, though, so she’s been brushing up on her foundational math skills in preparation for the SATs. UPchieve interviewed her in October 2020.
Here’s what Elisa had to say about her experience with UPchieve:
“Online learning is okay, but I really miss the structure of being in the classroom. At school, the teacher is there to keep you on track. They can tell if you’re tuning in or out and ask you to put away your phone. And video chat can be awkward — what if I unmute at the same time someone else decides they want to talk?
My school district also doesn't receive much funding. Teachers are having a hard time getting textbooks to us, even digital textbooks. A lot of them are using free articles they find online instead. Out of my eight classes, only one teacher got funding to get us books, and she had to partially pay out-of-pocket.
Most of my classmates have been cruising since March. When report cards came out a few weeks ago, our parent liaison sent everyone a memo about UPchieve. I thought it was really cool! Literally a couple days before during my SAT practice I had been like, ‘Wow, I really don't remember anything that happened in Algebra 1.’ And to be clear I have an ego at school; my pride does not want me to go to a teacher to tell them I don't know what I'm doing!
During one of my first sessions on UPchieve, I apologized the whole time. I felt bad that I didn’t understand concepts that I felt like I should know. But my tutor was really patient and walked me through the whole process. They gave lots of examples and tricks for remembering how to do stuff. Unlike SAT books that skip teaching the process of elimination and other shortcuts, UPchieve has been great for helping me relearn the basics.
I get straight A's, but sometimes I feel like grades aren't necessarily reflective of my understanding. It's more like — I'm willing to put in effort. I'm willing to do homework. But that doesn't mean I 110% understand the concept, or that I understand it as well as I want to. Because UPchieve is anonymous and you get a different coach each time, I feel more comfortable asking for help when I need it.”
Final Thoughts
Ready to take a page out of Elisa’s book and set yourself up for success in high school in beyond? Sign up to meet with your first UPchieve tutor today! UPchieve’s online tutoring platform is 100% free for qualifying students, and you can get the one-on-one help you’re looking for in as little as five minutes!
Want to hear more from other students first? Check out what Aaron, Esmerelda, Wendy, and Sarah had to say!