Jovantae

Jovantae

Passionate in building a person’s confidence to overcome any challenge he or she feels intimidated by, Jovantae began his professional journey by earning his BA in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his MA in Social Work from California State University, Long Beach. Although Jovantae has a background in mental health, he has always felt comfortable with tutoring test prep and has tutored math and writing since 2010.

Throughout his tutoring career, Jovantae has been tutoring in various roles and subjects, including as a private ESL and Spanish tutor, as a test prep tutor at high school after school and summer programs, and as a writing tutor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Jovantae has made an impact improving students’ scores in writing and math portions of SAT/ACT sections. “I help students simplify the jargon of standardized tests so students feel comfortable with what they are expected to understand,” Jovantae says.

Through his experience as a family therapist, Jovantae developed a skill-set at establishing rapport with students and creating motivating environments for students to focus on their goals. “I believe that the core to learning anything, including math, is to one, learn how to learn, and two, feel confident in your ability to do so,” Jovantae says.

A lifelong competitor and strategist, Jovantae enjoys chess, basketball, and video games. In high school, he was involved with the Academic Decathlon team. “At first, I focused solely on my own academics, but in academic decathlon, it was not just about me. I learned the value of ‘no member gets left behind’ and it felt amazing to help one another and enjoy academic success as a team” says Jovantae. He uses that mindset to help parents realize the impact of their individual roles in their child’s academic success.