Tutor Snapshot: Peter Kang

Peter Kang is one of Nurturing Wisdom's most experienced tutors. Not to mention the busiest - Peter works with more students every week than anyone else! Families rave about his patience, thorough knowledge, and investment in his students. You may not know that before Peter tutored with NW, he was in the Marines. Now you can learn a bit more about Peter's experience in the Marine Corps, and his journey to teaching.

­I floated through high school relatively unscathed by its drama. I played three varsity sports: football, wrestling and baseball. I went to all the dances - with dates, might I add. I worked after practice, then hung out with friends. I was in every honors class my school offered. There were not as many AP classes then as there are now, but I was in AP Calculus. I was on the state qualifying math team.

Unfortunately my ACT score projection was…well, let's just say that you could roll three six-sided dice and get a higher number. My guidance counselor said that if I wanted help choosing a college, there was a stack of brochures next to the door. I also took the ASVAB, which is taken by military enlistees to see which jobs they qualify for. I was perfect that day. I could be anything I wanted…in the military anyway. Later, I took the ACT and scored significantly higher, almost double my previous score projection.

As graduation came and went, my father and I locked horns regarding my future. I wanted to join the Marine Corps. He wanted me to attend university. Eventually I relented, as I was still too young to enlist without the blessing of my parents. As fall rolled around, I found myself on the campus of University of Illinois at Chicago.

Early in my first semester as a soon-to-be graduating senior, I received an early morning phone call from my mother. She told me to turn on the news. I stared in silent disbelief for a time. As disbelief turned into anger, I felt as if my mind had been made up for me. My future, at least the next few years of it, had been decided for me on that early Tuesday morning. I joined the masses at the recruiting office. I had my second perfect day of testing, which allowed me my choice of prestigious specialties: intelligence, maintenance, or communications. I didn’t want to practice being interrogated, nor did I want to fix equipment that other people broke. This left me in communications, with a three-foot antenna sticking out over my head (hey, at least I could call for help). Shortly thereafter, I graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and two weeks later, as the saying goes, I was standing on the yellow foot prints.

I finished boot camp, infantry training, and two electronic communications courses in time to check into a unit that had just received its activation orders. In the four days between checking into my unit and going to war, I picked up a marriage license at city hall, got married, returned the necessary paperwork to city hall, added my wife to all my military papers, and then got packed.

Sooner rather than later, although it didn’t feel like it, we were sent home. Mission Accomplished. Or so said the banner that hung on the aircraft carrier where a former Air National Guard pilot landed. It sure didn’t feel like our mission was accomplished. Sure, I got a half dozen or so medals, but no parade. Men and materials were still being sent overseas and returning spent, if they returned at all. Some Marines that I worked with started taking exams which would grant college credit. Word had gotten around about my background; suddenly, I was very busy helping fellow Marines pass tests.

I reached a crossroad when I returned to civilian life, a life I had yet to experience. My wife and I had bought a home. She had finished her M.S. in Bioengineering while I was away, and was now headed to Toronto to pursue her PhD. At the same time, I was headed to New Orleans to pick up the pieces left behind by Hurricane Katrina. I wanted to go with her, to be supportive, to be there for her. But I needed to stay. I needed to keep things in order here, to make things better for her return. Teaching made sense. I felt good teaching. I could make a career out of teaching. My commitment to teaching took me through the halls of Northwestern University, and finally and into the folds Nurturing Wisdom.