Hello! My name is Shane, and I was born and raised in the western suburbs of Minneapolis. I attended Armstrong High School and later earned my Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Journalism from the University of St. Thomas, as well as degrees in Japanese and International Studies. During my time at St. Thomas, I studied Japanese and had the incredible opportunity to spend a year studying in Osaka, Japan. This experience sparked my passion for language learning, which eventually led me to Shenyang, China, where I began my teaching career and taught abroad for several years. After returning to the United States, I earned a Master of Arts in Teaching English from the University of Minnesota, as well as my Instructional Design certification, which helps me to maximize the effectiveness of my lessons, whether taught in-person or online. For the last several years, I have been teaching the English Language Arts at various universities, including the University of Minnesota.

Living abroad and learning new languages have taught me the value of patience and dedication when mastering something new. I bring this philosophy to my lessons by introducing new concepts gradually, reviewing past material thoroughly, and inspiring my students to continually challenge themselves. I enjoy witnessing this progress towards success in each of my students, which is the driving force behind my passion for teaching.

Here at Kay Tutoring, I primarily support students with exam preparation for the ACT English and Reading sections, as well as the SAT/PSAT Reading and Writing modules, though I also help students with Mandarin Chinese and English Language Arts for their high school courses.

When I’m not tutoring or teaching, I enjoy biking, traveling, cooking, gardening, and playing with my grey tuxedo cat Kirby. A fun fact about me is that I’ve visited over twenty countries and, as you can probably tell from my studies and early teaching experience, I have an interest in Japanese and Chinese culture!

I’m looking forward to working together to help you achieve your academic goals!