Sarah Gronlund, Math 6-8

Before coming to SLArts, I was a private tutor for over a decade, a classroom aid/GED teacher/night school teacher for a year, and a high school STEM teacher for three years in SLCSD. I tried so hard to not become a teacher, but it turns out it's my passion, so here I am!

I was always an advanced math student, mostly because my dad bribed me with Pokemon cards to get ahead. (You can be the judge of how much I liked Pokemon considering I was in BC Calculus by the 9th grade.) But it wasn't until 11th grade that I fell in love with math. That year I was a teacher's aid and discovered that math is far more fun and interesting when you get to teach it!

After graduation, I went to school to study systems engineering.. and then civil engineering.. and then mechanical engineering.. and then finance. All the while I was tutoring math and physics. Eventually, I had the sense to drop out of college to pursue tutoring full time. A few years later I finally accepted that I am meant to be a math teacher because I love helping students develop the confidence and skills to be successful in and out of the classroom. Also, I didn't want to only be able to work with students who could afford a private tutor.

Along the way I ended up with a BS in Mathematics with an Emphasis in Statistics from University of Utah, a cat from a parking lot, and an autism diagnosis. Lately I have been spending my free time playing pickleball and board games with friends, fostering cats, and listening to D&D podcasts.