Jeremy Kurzyniec
Jeremy learned Latin and Greek as a high school student at Phillips Academy, Andover, where he was blessed to have the finest teachers he has ever known -- masterful, charismatic, kind-hearted paragons of the old tradition, who served both as academic mentors and quasi-grandfathers. It is due to their influence that he has pursued a career teaching the Classics, and it is their model that he still follows in his own teaching. That model is above all personal, both in its inspiration and focus. Its inspiration springs from the teacher’s own passion for the subject, which promotes student engagement and enthusiasm, and in its focus, the student, it is infinitely tailored to the student’s individual needs and proclivities. One-on-one tutoring is the highest expression of that approach and yields unparalleled gains in student progress, a fact that has long been appreciated at Oxford, for instance, where the tutorial method still reigns, despite its significantly greater cost to the university.
Jeremy started his teaching career at Choate Rosemary Hall, where he taught both Latin and Arabic, reviving an Arabic program that had been dormant since the 1960s. He then spent a number of years at Convent of the Sacred Heart in NYC, where he was the sole upper school Latin teacher and taught five different levels, including AP. More recently, he has taught Latin at Vermont Academy and the Foxcroft School. As much as he enjoys classroom teaching, however, he feels that one-on-one tutoring is the most productive, rewarding, and meaningful work a teacher can do. Amazing feats can be accomplished with just a single student, and in record time too. High-speed internet and video conferencing programs like Zoom open up new worlds of possibility in this regard, and Jeremy is eager to work with students he would never have had the opportunity to otherwise.