By Dan Murphy
An experienced educator with a passion for teaching, Dr. Katrina Tamvakologos (a.k.a. ‘Dr. T’) launched Unlock Your Potential, which now offers personalized tutoring for K-12 students at its Beacon Hill offices, immediately after giving birth to her second child last fall.
“I wanted more flexible hours, and to make my own schedule, while also getting the teaching part in,” Dr. T recalled during a recent phone interview.
Born and raised in Milton, Dr. T earned a bachelor’s in English from St. Lawrence University, a master’s in Literacy Education Grades 5-12 from New York University, and a doctorate in educational administration, leadership, and policy from Fordham University. She is a certified English teacher and reading specialist who has taught in private, parochial, and public schools. She has also provided reading intervention in schools and worked as a learning center instructor while tutoring at all different levels.
“I meet with students to find out what their goals are, and to help them achieve success [on their terms],” said Dr. T of the services she offers at Unlock Your Potential. “We meet students where they are and then implement a plan for them to reach their goals and achieve what they see as success.”
(Dr. T personally teaches English and college prep while one of the three other staff members handles tutoring in the areas of math and science.)
“Because of the covid setback, a lot of students needed additional support, and obviously, all of those needs can’t be met at school during the school day,” she said.
Unlock Your Potential offers personalized tutoring in English, Math, Science, Greek, and Latin, as well as help with college applications and ‘executive functioning skills.’
In addition to multi-tasking, ‘executive functioning skills,’ include “task-initiating and anything organization-related, like organizing work or folders, or breaking down longer-term work or assignments,” according to Dr. T.
Meanwhile, high school seniors are now hearing back on early decisions for their top college choices, and with the inevitable rejections coming for some students, they are left searching for other college options. Unlock Your Potential can help students craft essays specifically tailored for certain colleges, as well as handle the general college application process.
“Everyone is scrambling,” said Dr. T. “Some schools have supplemental essays, which is where kids get bogged down because it requires more writing on a tight deadline.”
For more information on Unlock Your Potential, visit www.uyptutoring.com, or contact Dr. Katrina Tamvakologos at 617-784-6753, or via email at [email protected].