Meet our heroes: Cecilia C

Hi! My name is Cecilia, and I am entering my fourth year studying a Bachelor of Criminology/Bachelor of Laws at Deakin University next year. I am also grateful to be on a Deakin Vice-Chancellor's Academic Excellence Scholarship.

I started tutoring to make a positive difference in students’ lives. I aim to lift students up and support them to grow in their skills and self-belief during lessons. My biggest hope is for students to leave my classes feeling more motivated, inspired and confident!

I am passionate about access to justice and education and discerning a career in the justice sector or teaching. I also love music, volunteering, movies and filmmaking!

I have a love of learning, and I enjoy sharing this with others. My high school tutors inspired me to become a tutor as their compassion and support helped me to reach my personal best, and I wanted to help others achieve the same.

I also wanted to integrate a wellbeing and mental health-focused approach into my classes. I struggled with balancing my health, mental health and studies throughout high school, and I wanted to create an environment for students that is warm, welcoming, judgement-free, engaging, fun and challenging in ways suitable to each student.

The most rewarding aspect of tutoring for me is helping students to learn and build their confidence. It’s a privilege to witness the ‘lightbulb moments’ my students have, where I can see everything click into place and their eyes light up with understanding.

Particularly with English, it’s incredible to watch students’ writing transform week by week, and they feel proud of their efforts and inspired to keep expanding their text understanding and polish their writing.

It is also very fulfilling to witness my students overcome challenges they once thought insurmountable through being brave, asking questions and working hard.

I had the privilege of teaching a student for many months leading up to her final Year 12 English Exam, and the feedback I received from her moved me so much. She shared that our classes helped her gain so much confidence and inspiration for English, that every class was so fun, and she was very grateful that I really believed in her, even when she sometimes did not believe in herself. I recall one instance where she struggled to grasp some English concepts, and I created a visual graphic and template for her. She was thankful that I could adapt the lesson to suit her visual learning style to help her understand the ideas.

I was also so touched by the feedback from one of my student’s parents, who shared only after our first trial class that his son told him I was the best and kindest teacher he had ever met. As a tutor, I am genuine in my kindness and belief in students, and this fosters an environment where students feel comfortable to be vulnerable and reach out for help and ask questions to facilitate their learning.

If you decide to reach out to me as your tutor, I will respond as soon as possible to arrange a free trial class. In this first class, I work with each student to discuss their goals and how I can best help them achieve their personal best, and my hope is for them to leave having learnt a new skill or concept!

I strongly believe in progress over perfection and tailor my teaching to each student’s needs and learning style, whether visual, auditory, reading and writing or kinaesthetic. I work with students to focus on their ‘why’ behind tasks to add perspective to the subject and help build up students’ passion and motivation. Encompassed within my lesson fee is also support Monday to Friday outside class for students by providing feedback on plans/work/essays and answering questions.

I am committed to being a kind, passionate, enthusiastic and diligent tutor, and I look forward to meeting you if you decide to book classes with me!