Student Story: Katie Mote

“Personal training. I really enjoy helping people not only lose weight but also find a passion for lifting weights and bodybuilding.”

Katherine Mann Mote is in her junior year at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she is studying exercise science. After she graduates next year, Katie plans to further her education by going to chiropractic school. 

Last semester, Katie was struggling to keep up with her assignments in a demanding chemistry course when she decided to sign up for Knack.

“I was still learning my time management and study skills. I was trying to stop procrastinating.”

Despite this, Katie was not eager to use tutoring again after having a less than stellar experience the last time she gave it a try. 

“I went to the tutoring center at my school and didn’t connect well with the tutor… I left very shortly after that and I wasn’t really interested in trying again.”

Luckily, Katie decided to check out Knack to see if she could find a suitable tutor to work with. That’s when she found Tiffany.

“I connected with Tiffany on Knack, and she seemed super qualified and very friendly, so I reached out to her and we got started.”

It was immediately clear that Tiffany was going to be super helpful.

“We had an initial consultation, which I thought was really cool. She wanted to get to know me and see what I was studying so that she could go home and do the same… She said that she wanted to make sure she was giving me the best service possible, which was great!”

During this 20-minute consultation, Tiffany also gave some valuable advice that helped improve Katie’s note-taking habits.

“She asked me how I remembered things when I heard them in class and she looked at some of my notes. Then she asked how it was working for me, and I told her that it was honestly not working great… She noticed that I remember things really well when I write them down, so she recommended using a different colored pen for vocab, one for concepts, and another color for equations. That’s been phenomenal.”

Hitting it off right from the start, Katie and Tiffany have built a great working relationship with one another over the past few months.

“I’m very comfortable with her. If I get things wrong, I don’t really worry about it because it’s just Tiffany. If I make a mistake, she’ll say something like ‘You might think that because of this, but here’s how we’re actually gonna do it and here’s how you should remember it.’”

After getting a bit of a late start in the fall, Katie and Tiffany have been very proactive this spring. In fact, they meet every single Sunday.

“This semester, we’re on a much more routine meeting schedule. We started the very first week to get the ball rolling, and we’re always a step ahead of everything, which has been great. I go into class knowing exactly what’s going on, and I can actually help my peers because she’s helped me.”

This has not always been the case. Unlike many of her friends, Katie has needed to work throughout her entire college career, which has negatively impacted her academic performance at times.

“Having to work late hours as a server in the earlier part of my college career was really detrimental because I was always in a brain fog and I just didn’t really have any time to study.”

In her current job as a personal trainer, however, Katie has managed to find a better balance between work and school.

“I was a server for about three years, so working in the restaurant industry was getting pretty old. I needed something new, and I needed something during the day. Since I had been helping my mom get into weightlifting, I figured that I could probably make some money off of it. So, I got certified.”

When she’s not studying or working, Katie likes to blow off some steam by lifting weights or boxing.

“I really love being active. I lift weights and I also just started boxing, which has been pretty cool. It’s a really great way to clear my mind, and it’s actually pretty affordable too, so it’s a good thing for students to do.”

Over the past few months, Katie has become increasingly confident in her academics and she attributes much of her success to the consistent support Tiffany has provided for her.

“When I tell my friends that I’m going to tutoring, they’re like ‘Why do you need that? Your grades are great’ and I’m like, ‘Yes. That’s because of tutoring.’”

Having seen firsthand the stigma that exists around getting help, Katie recommends that other students start working with a tutor before it’s too late.

“I feel like there’s been a stigma behind it a little bit… I think people need to just jump right into it and not think about it too much. I ended up overthinking it for too long and then, by the time I started, it was too late to turn things around that semester. But, there’s always another semester ahead, so you might as well turn things around for that one.”

After experiencing the impact tutoring has had on her life, Katie is open to the idea of becoming a tutor one day.

“I could definitely try. I know that I’d be able to give advice about what I struggled with and what I focused on.”

For now, though, what Katie is focused on is making it through this semester with Tiffany’s assistance and encouragement.

“It’s nice to have that accountability. Someone saying things like, ‘I know you’re working, you’re doing great,’ but also asking ‘Where’s this? Have you done this? When is this due?’”

If you’re looking for someone to hold you accountable, who can also offer great advice on how to succeed in the courses you’re taking this semester, head to joinknack.com to connect with a peer tutor today.