Tutor Spotlight: Maria Rodriguez

Maria Rodriguez has been a tutor at the University Writing Center since the fall semester of 2018. She is originally from Venezuela. Maria came to Texas Tech two years ago and recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Spanish. Maria said she chose music because it is her passion. She always wanted to be a musician but her parents didn’t allow it at first, which lead her to begin studying business but she never gave up on music. She received a bachelor's degree of Business but went back to school for music. Her main instrument is a violin. She is in Lubbock Civic Orchestra, the Celtic Orchestra at Texas Tech and the String Orchestra at Texas Tech University. Maria said she also wanted to study Spanish because she was a Spanish tutor and she loves her language and wants to share it with others. She is currently applying for graduate school to study Musicology. Maria said she chose musicology because she is also interested in research and having the opportunity to go abroad and find where different music came from and bring that knowledge to others. Texas Tech was her main choice to attend because it offered her the ability to study Musicology. She met with the director, Dr. Smith and he gave her details about the department and really sold the program for Maria. She also loved that they are involved with the vernacular music department, where she is also a dancer of French folk dance.

Maria is also very passionate about learning about the Asian culture. Since she was a young girl, she has always wanted to gain more knowledge about Japanese food, and their lifestyle. She remembers that from a very young age she taught herself to use chopsticks in the hopes of being able to fit in if she ever got to visit Japan. She has a great respect for the values that the culture holds and identifies with many of them herself, such as aspects of discipline and respect. She also hopes to live in Japan someday to be fully immersed in the culture and have a chance to see the cherry blossoms there.

Before becoming a tutor, Maria was a client for her entire career as a student at Texas Tech. She felt like the Writing Center held so many opportunities for improvement. When she was offered a position as a tutor, Maria saw it as a new avenue to improve her writing skills even more through helping others. Her favorite part about tutoring is sending a student away from a tutorial with a smile on their face. Regardless of the purpose, she believes it is incredibly important to encourage students and be a positive aspect of their lives. She said, “If they are smiling and feeling more confident, then I did my job.”

Lastly, we asked Maria, “If you could have dinner with three people, living, dead, or fictional, who would they be and why?” She said, “Someone would be Ghandi. I respect him so much and there is a lot of knowledge in spirituality that I can learn from him.” Her second choice was “Louise Hay, who was my mentor. She was an American writer and she encouraged me to be a happy person.” The last person would be “Jesus. I would love to meet Jesus and ask him what my purpose in life is. It would be amazing to have his presence and energy and to learn more about him.”