Tutor Spotlight: Sarah Huerta

Sarah Huerta is a new tutor here at the University Writing Center. She is a junior at Texas Tech studying English. She said it was a long journey to decide on being an English major. Sarah started as an Animal Science major on a pre-vet track. Then, she switched to Zoology on a pre-vet track. After the switch, Sarah said she realized that the Animal Science major wasn’t the problem, it was the pre-vet part. She finally decided to be an English major. Her mom, sister and brother-in-law were all teachers, mainly focusing on English, and she felt like it was a calling. She also said that she spends most of her free time writing or reading, so it seemed like a good fit. She is also minoring in Spanish, Ethnic Studies and Technical Communication. After graduation, Sarah plans on getting her Masters in Fine Arts in creative writing and eventually get her PhD.

Sarah decided to become a tutor at the Writing Center because her sister was a writing tutor at another university. She said her sister had such a great experience, she wanted to try it herself. She also felt like it would give her good teaching experience for her future endeavors. She also saw it as an opportunity to better herself as a writer. When asked what her favorite part about tutoring was, she said she loves working with other students and loves seeing the “lightbulb” moment. Sarah said, “Within ten minutes of a thirty minute session, students recognize on their own that they don’t need an extra comma or that a sentence needs to be broken up. I just makes me so excited that I’m not just telling students what to change but you can see the gears turning and that they are learning.”

Sarah also has a pet kitten. “She is the love of my life,” said Sarah. She was originally worried that she wouldn’t be able to balance school, work and a pet, but now her cat is the best part of her day. She named her cat Lorca, after a Spanish poet. Sarah studied abroad in Spain last summer and felt like the name was a perfect fit.

Lastly, Sarah is a self-proclaimed Star Wars fan. So we asked her, if she could be any character from a Star Wars film, who would she be and why? Sarah replied, “Cassian Andor from Rogue One is just so fantastic… Just his character in general. Like his childhood sucked, but he pushed through and *Spoiler Alert* makes the ultimate sacrifice for the cause he believed in. Also, he has a cool robot best friend, which is a plus.” She continues to say, “And his quote, ‘Rebellions are built on hope,’ I absolutely love that.” Sarah said that Cassian was an inspiration to her.