After running his own Los Angeles-based tutoring company for the last several years, Richard Vo joined the upper school science department as a chemistry teacher.

Vo attended the University of Massachusetts, where he majored in chemistry and minored in mathematics. Afterward, he earned his masters in chemistry at the University of Washington. During his graduate program, Vo taught undergraduate students and worked as a teaching associate after earning his Master of Science.

“I taught at grad school, and I noticed many gaps in students’ knowledge,” Vo said. “Teaching at high school means I can influence at a foundational stage.”

For the last couple of years, Vo ran his own tutoring company, Vo Learning Labs, which helped students of all levels in science and math. Vo said his experience as a tutor for students has allowed him to develop many different ways of teaching students, which will ensure that at least one of his methods helps students better understand important and difficult concepts.

“I noticed conceptual errors in students’ knowledge of many sciences, and teaching one-on-one meant I’ve been able to explore multiple ways of teaching students,” Vo said.

This will be Vo’s first year teaching at a high school, and he said he looks forward to teaching in an environment with other teachers.

“Being in a team setting means being held accountable, and I love that there’s standardization and constant feedback from my peers,” Vo said.