Shruti Patankar

As a certified grammar nerd, Shruti’s favorite punctuation is the semicolon. Accessible, friendly, and multi-faceted — it’s what she tries to be. 

Although Shruti now lives in the Houston suburbs with her parents, she considers herself a lifelong Chicagoan after growing up in Palatine, Illinois. Throughout high school, Shruti competed on the speech team, wrote for the student newspaper, and tutored in her free time. Now, in college, she edits for the Rice Thresher’s Features section and mentors young women in STEM. Student journalism is one of her passions, and it’s allowed her to build her writing and editing skills and interview a variety of people; like SAT/ACT tutoring, it requires optimism, planning, and a thorough understanding of comma rules. 

Aside from her schoolwork, Shruti is an avid historical fiction reader and loves to try new recipes on her college roommates. As she adjusts to the Houston heat and humidity, she enjoys going on long walks outside and trying local taco places.   

Shruti enjoys teaching because it allows her to share her academic and test taking strategies with students while building meaningful relationships with them. She hopes to help each student access the tools they need to succeed, and she does so by adapting lesson plans and approaches to what each student needs. The most fulfilling part of teaching is not just watching a student reach an academic goal, but helping them understand that they can do anything they put their mind to with hard work and a positive attitude.