Interview with Guillaume, tutor at School Success!

Guillaume has been a tutor with us since 2009. He offers tutoring services in the Montreal region and at our learning center in Côte-des-Neiges, he is one of our most active and involved tutors. We are happy to introduce him to you by sharing this short interview we conducted with him.

Hello Guillaume. First of all, a crucial question, were you good at school?

I always did well at school; I was lucky to have parents who were very involved, who helped me with my homework all the time, but they especially made me appreciate at an early age how important school was, and the luck I had to be able to go to school everyday.

And how did you become a tutor?

During my first year of University, I had a friend who told me about her new tutoring job. She didn’t work for School Success, but for an organisation at the University. Curious, I came across the School Success website while doing an Internet search so I sent in my résumé. One month later, I was hired and the magic continues on.

In your opinion, what should be the main quality of a good tutor?

A good tutor must first and foremost be flexible: both it in terms of schedule and the work to be done, a tutor must always be ready to turn on a dime and work in the best interest of the students and their parents.

What was your favourite subject at school?

I loved French and Math.

And the one you liked the least?

Art: total absence of talent, it was almost embarrassing!

What was your best tutoring experience?

During my second year at School Success, I was tutoring two sisters at their home, two days a week. This family in particular made me understand the role of a tutor; I would go there so often that it was part of my daily routine. The parents were warm and welcoming, and the girls worked hard. I only tutored them for one year, but it summarized everything I like about tutoring: a great relationship, varied tasks (we worked on pretty much all subjects) and the feeling of being useful and appreciated.

Tell us of an anecdote that happened to you as a tutor

My goodness, there are so many! My favourite was the time when, while we were finishing our session, a student started criticising my profile picture. Since she had been working well, I allowed her to choose another one, and showed her a selection. Her comments were hilarious!

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

I see myself in education, of course, with a lot of contracts and previous work behind me. I would like to be able to do a Master’s and broaden my horizons. But, most importantly, in 10 years, I see myself happy and well accomplished!