I’m Simon, from Washington, DC. I currently attend Columbia University, where I study history and English and spend my free time acting and programming classical music and jazz at the university’s student-run radio station. Whether I’m directing Shakespeare or operating a lights board for a dance production, I love figuring out how to break down complex ideas into solvable problems, and then to solve them.
I’m strongest in English, history, and standardized test prep. I love working with students on writing, whether it’s college essays, analytical papers, or creative projects, because writing is where critical thinking becomes tangible, and because it’s just the best thing in the world. It’s always wonderfully satisfying to find or help someone find the best way to put ideas to words. I hope to enter into a career either in academia, teaching history of English, where my current focuses (religious history, Early Modern Drama, cultural history, and more) meet, but I can just as likely see myself becoming an actor, director, arts administrator, museum worker, or any other career that speaks to my interests in society, culture, and art.
Outside of academics, I’m into bicycling, basketball, and reading everything I can get my hands on. I spent a summer working with a traveling youth circus in New England, which was forever unpredictable and hilarious and taught me a lot about adaptability and working under pressure. I’ve also directed scenes from operas in Prague and Vienna, written program notes for orchestral performances, and performed in more Shakespeare plays than I can count. I’m studying history at Columbia now, but I’m drawn to anything that involves storytelling, analysis, or figuring out how things work, from physics to English to underwater basket weaving.