Meet Alexis Scott of AMS Academic Solutions in Cedar Hill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Scott.

Alexis is a System Security Engineering (i.e. cyber security) Manager for a defense company. She’s also a Mathematics Education Entrepreneur and founder of the educational services center AMS Academic Solutions.

In 1993, Alexis graduated from Spelman College with an undergraduate degree in mathematics. She followed that up in 1995 with a Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of North Texas.

Alexis has been teaching / tutoring math for over 20 years. She started tutoring math in college in 1989 and continued tutoring my entire undergraduate career (for four years) either individually or in the math lab. After she graduated in 1993, she went to graduate school where she continued to tutor math in that math lab. But in addition to the tutoring, she started teaching my own class (well assistant to a professor). That is when the teaching bug really hit. I enjoyed being in front of the classroom talking about math and working with the students.

After graduate school, she started her first job in “real world” (1996) as an engineer. Even though she enjoyed what she was doing, she felt as if there was something missing. She didn’t feel completely fulfilled. She realized it was because she wasn’t teaching. Specifically, she wasn’t teaching math. So in her 2nd year of her very first job in the real world, she began looking for part-time teaching positions at local colleges in the area. So she would work at her full-time engineering job during the day and teach college math courses in the evening and weekends. She continued this trend for 14 years. The engineering jobs and colleges varied but, she would have a full-time job during the day and teach on the weekends or in the evenings.

Then, technology came in and more students were opting for the convenience of computer led instruction vs. instructor led instruction. Students were not as willing to attend a weekend course as they were prior. So to keep up the pace with technology, the college where she was teaching was transitioning away from the weekend courses.

So the “happiness” that she had for 15 or so years now was threatened. But as with change, there was also a little change in her life too. It started with friends/family/co-workers that she had discussions with who were mentioning the struggles that their children were having with their math courses. Or people themselves who were having some issues (i.e. Returning back to school to get a degree; or just wanting some additional knowledge and never fully grasped math). That is when she started individual tutoring.

As she was doing this “unofficial” tutoring, that candle that was lit over 15 years ago started to flicker again. And that initial joy that she had when she stood in front of her first class was back. And that is when it really hit her. Thus, she created AMS Academic Solutions and educational services company,

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No the road has not been smooth. Some of my challenges are that I still maintain a full-time job as I work in my passion of education and often “time” not having enough of it is an issue.

Please tell us about AMS Academic Solutions.
AMS Academic Solutions is an Educational Services Company that provides tutoring in a variety of subjects. We also provide standardized test preparation. We focus on foundational understanding of materials. We want to build a strong foundation for our clients that will help them at all levels vs. one stop passing of one test. We focus on 5 C’s to success:

Conversation: Each session begins with a conversation. We want to engage the students so that it is slightly more than a tutor client relationship. This conversation also gives the tutor some information on the client so that they will more adequately be able to tailor the sessions to each client. Every client has a different learning style and the conversation will allow the tutor to make that assessment.

Connection: The initial conversation provides a connection between the student and the tutor. Clients are more apt to learn and become engaged when there is a connection made. Also, a connection is made between the homework and the test and quizzes. Many times with the tutors, clients understand everything but when they go on their own, things are forgotten. We want to make sure that the clients are connecting what we are doing in our sessions to what they are doing in the classroom.

Comfort: This connection leads to the student becoming comfortable with the material. We are there for the students but ultimately, we want to send them out to the wild so that they can perform the material on their own.

Confidence: Once comfort is there and the student can do the work, it builds their confidence.

Courage: Once confidence has been built, the student has the courage to tackle and conquer the remaining material and advance toward higher level academics. Ultimate goal for our clients is to reach the courage and confidence to be successful at all levels.

Pricing:

• $45 per one hour session
• $305 SAT Test Prep
• $295 ACT Test Prep

Contact Info:

• Address: 1423 N HWY 67
  Suite 100
  Cedar Hill, TX 75104
• Website: www.amsacademicsolutions.com
• Phone: 972-755-1151
• Email: alexis@amsacademicsolutions.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AMathServices/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexisMath22

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