Hume Tutor Spotlight

Winter Quarter 2026

Annabelle Choi, Undergraduate Peer Writing Tutor

Tell me a bit about yourself! Major, where you're from, things you're involved in...

Class Year?  Senior    
Major?  Design and Urban Studies

My name is Annabelle Choi. I’m a junior. I use she/her pronouns. I’m an Urban Studies minor and a Design major. I’m involved in SSS on campus, I’m one of the co-presidents, that’s Students for Sustainable Stanford. I’m very passionate about sustainability. I’m hoping to do a co-term [in sustainability] which is exciting. We’ll see if they take me. I’m also a part of Okada, which is the Asian-American house [on campus]. And I work here!

Why did you decide to join the Hume Center?

In high school, I was a TA for all four years. I really enjoyed it. It was, like, my favorite thing ever. When I got to college, I was really seeking a similar sense of community and being able to help and teach other people, which is something I really loved doing in high school. So from frosh year, I was like, “Oh I’d really love to [be a Hume tutor], but I missed the deadline.” And then the next year I was like, “I actually have to do this.” So I applied, and I got in, but I just really love teaching, I really love connecting with people, and it feels like a great, intimate place to do that here. 

How has your experience been as a tutor at the Hume Center?

It’s been really good! I think all the things I hoped for are happening. It’s been really great to help people, and I think there’s a moment of connection that happens, not every time, but a lot of the time when you feel like something clicks and something is really changing, and I think that’s the part that I want to keep improving and keep making that happen for people.

How would you like to describe your tutoring style?

I think it’s really important for me to listen closely to what people want. So I try to have people talk as much as possible for the beginning part, just really go through what it is that they’re looking for. A lot of the time, I’ll do reverse outlining to try to clarify structures because that seems to typically be one of the biggest things that people are looking for clarification with. Other than that, it’s a lot of back and forth. I try to listen more than I talk.

What have the highlights of your Hume experience been?

I started tutoring over the summer because I was here over the summer…(graduate-style)...And that was really interesting because I was getting a really wide range of people coming in. So I think my first Hume session ever was someone applying for medical residency, and that was a super interesting experience because I was like, “Oh, my gosh, this is definitely outside of the things that I am aware of.” But it was really empowering to know that I was able to help them and that the structures of a lot of writing still stay the same [across disciplines].

How has writing tutoring shaped your Stanford experience? 

I like the groundedness of [tutoring at Hume]. I worked at the Cantor Museum before, and I really loved that, too. It was an amazing experience, but I was lacking some of that connection that you get with directly teaching and everything like that. We would plan events there, but it was more like we put on an event and you staff it but you’re not really teaching or working one-on-one. So I think this is a really great opportunity to actually sit down with people, get to know them a little bit, and actually help out. 

What is your favorite part about being a Hume tutor? 

I really enjoy the personal connection aspect of being a Hume tutor. I think there’s no other place on campus where I’ve really gotten to sit down and in 30 minutes get to know a really intimate part of someone’s life, and their work, what their interests are. Because I think it is a really vulnerable experience to open up your work to someone else, and I know that for myself, a lot of the time, my writing can be quite personal so I think it’s a really wonderful connection experience to work here.