Elisabeth K.
Beth is a recent first-generation, Magna Cum Laude graduate from Boston University where received her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in education. While only her minor, Beth has been working in educational settings since the age of 16.
A passion for mental health advocacy, equity and resource accessibility, particularly in schools and in under-resourced areas, drove her to pursue her B.S. in Psychology. She centered her education around the psychological development of children and adolescents with a particular interest in positive psychology, and more specifically, how to cultivate the reflective, metacognitive skills necessary to develop resilience in students. Beth believes that every student should understand that they are worthy and capable of overcoming challenges to become resilient, and she has researched the practices that build emotional awareness, a growth-mindset, and intrinsic motivation necessary for students to thrive and grow well beyond the classroom or tutoring.
In terms of her educational philosophy, Beth believes that educators also have a responsibility to reflect and grow to adapt to their students’ individual needs and experiences. Committed to cultural competency, Beth does not apply a one-size fits all approach to learning. Instead, she commits to knowing her clients and students as people, understanding what motivates and matters to them in order to make learning and teaching meaningful on an individual level. Humor is a must, and high expectations come with a sense that the student is capable of developing the tools necessary to succeed in any educational setting.
In her time at Boston University, she served as a research assistant in the Social Learning Lab. The lab researches children’s use of social and cognitive information when learning about the world, the processes through which they learn, and the environments in which they learn best. Specifically, she worked in developing studies that examined the ways that children judge and evaluate different sources of information based on cultural context.
Beth also served as a co-teacher and mentor for a first-year, semester-long introduction to college life course. In this role, she acted as both an instructor alongside a tenured staff member to provide classes centered around executive functioning skills and an advisor to provide social, emotional, and academic support.
Most recently during the summer of 2021, Beth held a teaching fellowship with the Breakthrough Collaborative’s Greater Boston Branch. The mission of Breakthrough is to work with highly motivated, traditionally underrepresented students to achieve post-secondary success and to empower aspiring college-aged students to become the next generation of educators and advocates through a structured teaching fellow training program. She was a full-time teacher of 10 rising ninth-graders and an advisor to 5. She designed the curriculum for an 8-week long ELA course, focusing on the themes of identity and activism, with an emphasis on writing for self-advocacy.