Sophomore Anna Wong had the opportunity to work for Shmoop over the summer. Photo courtesy Anna Wong.

Amanda Crisci | Co-Spread Editor

Over this past summer sophomore Anna Wong worked as a math consultant at the online tutoring website Shmoop. Shmoop’s mission is to communicate more effectively with students than adults sometimes can. This is accomplished through their colloquial language and fun activities as a means of teaching instead of lectures or textbook readings. Wong worked with the company last year and decided to devote part of her summer again to Shmoop this year because she thinks their methods of teaching are admirable and unique. Wong worked at Shmoop four days a week for six weeks as a math consultant.

Coat of Arms: What was your role as an intern? What type of work did you do?

Anna Wong: At first, I did a lot of [quality assurance] and fixed any grammatical or image issues in the math courses. Then I got to work on the Math Glossary, so I wrote definitions for a bunch of math terms in a Shmoopy voice. A Shmoopy voice is meant to be fun and not boring like [the tone of] most textbooks. I also got to write a few intros and readings for their online math courses.

COA: What is one unique experience you had at the company?

AW: We had a “Shmoop Content Team Talent Show” one Friday, where some of the workers and other interns showcased their talents, like singing, performing poetry, and jump roping, which was really fun to watch.

COA: How long have you been interested in teaching math?

AW: I’ve liked math ever since I was little. I remember being in kindergarden and telling everyone that nine times nine equals 81, which I had learned from one of my sister’s worksheets. Teaching math is more of a recent thing, like in the past year or two.

COA: What is the biggest skill you learned/improved during your internship? 

AW: I got better at explaining math terms in words, instead of just using examples of problems. I hope I also got more “Shmoopy” which means I became more witty and funny, like everyone else who works [at Shmoop].

Check back in on the Coat of Arms website tomorrow for another Summer Profile!