Our Team
Our team is dedicated to helping students and educators succeed. With diverse skills and a shared passion, we work together to create impactful learning solutions.
Leadership
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Frank McWilliams
Frank is Method Learning's President and Chief Operating Officer. Since joining Method Learning in 2005, Frank has helped hundreds of schools raise their students’ ACT and SAT scores. He has worked with private, public, charter, international, and online schools to provide affordable, high quality, and easy to use ACT and SAT prep. Frank understands the challenges that educators face, from time...
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Bryan Ziegler
Bryan is the Senior Vice President of Operations at Method Learning. He plays a major role at Method by overseeing all support as well as designing and developing Method’s online platform. Bryan graduated with a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan. Born and raised on Long Island, NY, Bryan moved to Colorado after college to enjoy the mountains and has settled in the Denver...
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Tom Ehlers
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Evan Wessler
Evan is Method Learning's Vice President of Student Success. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Bucknell University with a degree in Biology in 2009. After starting a biomedical sciences PhD program at Harvard University, he decided instead to pursue tutoring and leadership opportunities with Method Learning. Evan’s experience has given him the ability to excel as a top educat...
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Ethan Lewis
Ethan is Method Learning's Director of Client Satisfaction. He joined Method Learning in the summer of 2015 after 19 years working at independent boarding schools in New England and Pennsylvania. Ethan has done a little of everything in his career, having been an administrator, a history teacher, an advisor, a varsity coach, and a dormitory parent. Most significantly, Ethan spent 10 years as an...
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Kyle Henriksen
Kyle is Method Learning's Director of Business Development. He graduated from Pace University in 2011 with a Bachelors in English and minor in applied psychology. He then continued on to receive his MSed in Secondary Education from Hofstra University. Kyle began tutoring students for the SAT and ACT in 2011 and joined Method Learning in 2013 where he serves as a private tutor and classroom inst...
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Chad Barth
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Najda Sawey
Najda joined the Method Learning team in July of 2019. A born and raised Long Islander, Najda has lived on the Island all her life. Najda has a degree in Business Management, and previous experience owning a body waxing franchise. In her spare time, Najda likes to spend time with her husband and two sons.
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Amanda Sterk
Dr. Amanda Sterk is the Director of College and Career Advising at Method Learning. Dr. Sterk has guided thousands of students through academic planning, career exploration, and applying and succeeding in college admissions and scholarships. She is co-author of the nationally recognized college admissions workbook, College UnMazed: Your Guide to Navigate the High School to College Maze. Dr. Sterk...
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Jessica Ruzicka
Originally from New York, Dr. Ruzicka currently resides in South Carolina and has over 25 years of combined experience advising students and families through the college process. She has worked in financial aid, admissions, academic advising, career development and program development in the college environment. She has also served as the Director of College and Academic Planning at a private K-12...
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Kevin Dennis
Kevin graduated from SUNY Albany with a BA in History and minor in political science. After receiving his MA in Teaching in 2006, he taught English in Taiwan and then worked in a number of capacities in several Long Island schools. Since joining MTP in 2011, Kevin has tutored and taught classes for both the SAT and ACT. His energy, humor, and penchant for pop-cultural references make his tutori...
Advising
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Amanda Sterk
Dr. Amanda Sterk is the Director of College and Career Advising at Method Learning. Dr. Sterk has guided thousands of students through academic planning, career exploration, and applying and succeeding in college admissions and scholarships. She is co-author of the nationally recognized college admissions workbook, College UnMazed: Your Guide to Navigate the High School to College Maze. Dr. Sterk...
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Jessica Ruzicka
Originally from New York, Dr. Ruzicka currently resides in South Carolina and has over 25 years of combined experience advising students and families through the college process. She has worked in financial aid, admissions, academic advising, career development and program development in the college environment. She has also served as the Director of College and Academic Planning at a private K-12...
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Blair Dean
Blair Dean is a College Advisor for Method Learning. With 20+ years of experience, she has spent most of her career working with high school students and their families to plan for the best path to post-secondary success. Having worked in a variety of settings from undergraduate admissions, non-profit work, public schools and independent counseling, she has a wealth of knowledge from all sides of...
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Heather Driscoll
Heather Driscoll is a dedicated college counseling professional with over two decades of experience in guiding students through the college admission process as the Director of College Counseling at private schools. Her passion for helping students find their fit and gain acceptance to their school of choice drives her to develop and implement comprehensive college counseling programs that supp...
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Kelley Kaminsky
Kelley Kaminsky began her career in education over 20 years ago, after working as a newspaper journalist and magazine editor. She has coached thousands of students in the writing process as a certified English teacher with a passion for helping students find their authentic writing voice—an increasingly important aspect of the college application process. Kelley currently serves as the college...
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Kala Jones
Kala has over nine years of experience in education. She has leveraged her wealth of experience and unwavering commitment to student success to guide her students through the intricate maze of college choices, scholarships and financial aid. As a result, her students have gained admissions to Ivy and Ivy Plus universities, top liberal arts and single-gendered colleges, and prominent research inst...
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Bralyn Beathea
Bralyn is a dedicated advocate for educational advancement and leadership, with seven years of experience as a college admissions consultant. He has successfully guided students to top universities including Brown, University of Michigan, Harvard, UCLA, Northeastern, Georgetown, and Vanderbilt. Bralyn excels in developing educational programs, forming strategic partnerships, and nurturing individu...
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Cerita Grotts
Cerita graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Law and Society and Physical Anthropology. She then continued her educational pursuits graduating with a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. Her career prior to joining Method Learning was in higher education with particular focus in student financial...
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Roberto Suarez
Dr. Suarez is a school counselor and robotics educator with 20+ years of experience in college and admission counseling. Over the years, Roberto has held positions in college and international admission counseling, STEM and world language education, and many other fields. A co-founding committee member of College Board’s BigFuture, Roberto is regularly invited to sit on advisory boards and uses hi...
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Sohyun Tallis Lee
Dr. Lee has a Doctorate of Education in Organizational Leadership and has worked as a counselor, educator, and learning developer in K-12 education and leadership coaching for over 20 years. She has placed students at such schools as Yale, Stanford, Johns Hopkins University, Duke, Cornell, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and UCs. Dr. Lee has...
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Kevin Coy
Kevin Coy is a dedicated college counseling professional with over 25 years of experience in guiding students through the college admission process. For the past 13 years, Kevin has served as a Postsecondary Counselor at a large public high school in the suburbs of Chicago. He brings a wealth of knowledge and a deep commitment to guiding students through the college admissions process. Prior to...
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Jeremiah Harris
Jeremiah Harris is a dedicated student advocate with extensive experience in supporting high school students through the transition to college and career readiness. With a Master’s degree in School Counseling and a background in Community Sociology, Jeremiah’s career has centered on empowering students to achieve their academic, social, and emotional goals. His passion lies in helping students...
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Kathy Vogdes
Kathy has been assisting families through the college admissions process for the past several years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from Indiana University Bloomington and a law degree from DePaul University College of Law. Kathy has practiced law for over 25 years. She is also a content writer and editor for LexisNexis. In her spare time, Kathy is active with the Leukemia & L...
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Carolyn Kost
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Tim Poynton
Dr. Tim Poynton has been a school counselor, counselor educator, and researcher for 24 years. He is currently an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he teaches college counseling and career counseling courses at the graduate level to current and future school counselors. He has also taught undergraduate students in a course titled “Work and Play: Counseling Ski...
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Lauren McClellan
Lauren hails from Atlanta, GA and currently resides in the Upstate of South Carolina, where she enjoys a variety of outdoor activities afforded by the surrounding lakes and Appalachian foothills. In addition to her degrees in Special Education and Educational Leadership, she has gained valuable experience working in the K12 environment through teaching, developing curriculum, managing special educ...
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Sarah Steele
Sarah has helped hundreds of students and families navigate the college admissions process through her position as the Assistant Director of College and Academic Planning at a private K-12 school in South Carolina. She understands all the parts of the college planning process, the timeline, what it takes to execute a comprehensive college search, how to write an essay that will stand out and the m...
Development
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Chad Barth
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Brittany Moon
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Trevor Varwig
Tutoring
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Josh Alavanza
Josh is a graduate of York College with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and is currently applying for a Master of Science in Computer Science. He has taught students in every environment imaginable from one-on-one to online classrooms, from middle school to college. His success with students comes from his background in teaching and his passion for helping others. When he's not tutori...
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Zachery Alexander
Zachery Alexander grew up in Plainview, Long Island and currently resides in Queens, NY. He studied math and philosophy in college in New Paltz and has worked as both a teacher and tutor for various math classes at the high school and middle school level. He loves tutoring the SAT and ACT exams as well but math is far-and-away his favorite subject to teach. In his spare time, Zack enjoys hiking up...
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Nabil Asrar
Nabil is a results-driven professional tutor and career coach with 5+ years of experience specializing in comprehensive test preparation for standardized exams. He has a proven track record of guiding students to achieve significant score improvements in the SAT & ACT. Nabil is dedicated to empowering students through personalized coaching, academic support, and career guidance to excel aca...
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Azadi Bhatt
Azadi is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology at the New School for Social Research. They've been tutoring both online and in-person for the past 6 years, specializing in math-based subjects for students from a wide breadth of grade levels, although they enjoy teaching all subjects. When the...
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Elliot Bock
Elliot graduated from Brown University with a degree in Mathematical Economics. After a brief stint as an insurance analyst, he joined Method Learning, where his confident and patient educational style would shine. As one of Method Learning most experienced and successful tutors, Elliot has helped thousands of students from around the world conquer the SAT and ACT. His desire to improve and inn...
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Roshni Chandihok
Roshni graduated from Stony Brook University where she received her Bachelor of Science in Biology. She attended Hofstra University and received her Master's in Healthcare Administration with a concentration in finance. She has a passion for improving healthcare outcomes specifically by leveraging strategic analytics and is pursuing a career in healthcare consulting. Throughout her high school, un...
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Kevin Dennis
Kevin graduated from SUNY Albany with a BA in History and minor in political science. After receiving his MA in Teaching in 2006, he taught English in Taiwan and then worked in a number of capacities in several Long Island schools. Since joining MTP in 2011, Kevin has tutored and taught classes for both the SAT and ACT. His energy, humor, and penchant for pop-cultural references make his tutori...
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Tom Ehlers
Tom Ehlers, the founder of Method Learning and a Princeton University graduate, has spent the last 22 years developing effective teaching methods that have helped thousands of students significantly raise their ACT and SAT test scores. Tom’s online ACT and SAT program is currently used by over 1,500 schools around the world. Tom lives with his wife and two children in Long Island, New York.
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Garrett Foster
Garrett graduated summa cum laude with Disciplinary Honors in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2021. In his senior year at UNCG, he was awarded the Provost Student Excellence Award, the university’s highest undergraduate honor. After getting his start as the UNCG Philosophy Department’s writing tutor in 2020, Garrett has since tutored in a wide range of academic di...
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Renai Foster
Born and raised in Queens, NY, Renai is a graduate of Amherst College, from which she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Black Studies. She went on to earn a master’s degree from The Relay Graduate School of Education with a major in Secondary English Language Arts and simultaneously earned her NYS Teaching Certification. Renai has spent the last 5 years as a Middle School English te...
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Vaibhav Gargi
Vaibhav graduated from Cornell University, SC Johnson College of Business, in 2023 with his MBA (Masters in Business Administration) with a focus in Finance and Strategy. He also holds a BBA in Accounting and Economics from Baruch College (CUNY).
He is very passionate about tutoring and providing mentorship to the next generation. He has been tutoring on a part-t...
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Thomas Horan
Thomas joined Method Learning in 2022 as an academic coaching specialist, and has succeeded in working with students to improve their organization, motivation, and educational focus. With nearly three decades experience in the classroom Tom has helped many students achieve their academic goals. He stands ready to help your child get organized, become aware of time management & assist in many acade...
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Joseph Iaquinta
Joseph Iaquinta holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Molloy College and a Master of Science degree in biology from Western Governors University. He began his teaching career in 2007 as an ESL teacher in South Korea and Vietnam. After obtaining New York State certification in Living Environment and Chemistry from CUNY Queens College, he began teaching high school biology and middle s...
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James Ingoglia
Jim is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, where he studied pre-med for two years and obtained a B.A. in history. He also graduated with honors from the Hofstra University School of Law and was a managing editor of the Law Review. After his undergraduate degree, Jim taught Chemistry and Biology at a Catholic high school in Queens and then English in Japan for several years. Following l...
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Chris Judkins
Chris graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a minor in Biology. After graduating, he jumped right into teaching and tutoring and hasn't looked back. For more than a decade, Chris has taught Chemistry, Biology, and Physics at the high school level and tutored a variety of academic subjects and all manner of standardized tests including the...
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Keith Kamer
A Long Island native, Keith is one of the longest-tenured veteran tutors at Method Learning. He holds a dual degree in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics & Statistics from Stony Brook University. In addition to serving as a private tutor for the SAT, ACT, and academic mathematics, Keith has taught SAT and ACT Prep Courses at local schools and online. He has a reputation for being an especially g...
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Sreevarshini Karthikeyan
Sree currently attends the Cooper Union in New York City, where she majors in Civil Engineering and hopes to specialize in structural engineering. She graduated from Hauppauge High School as IB and AP Scholar in the top 5% of her senior class. Sree has worked as a tutor and mentor, helping peers and younger students in a variety of subjects, including science (Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, Ph...
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Haritha Lakshmanan
Haritha is currently a sophomore majoring in physics with a double minor in economics and Spanish at the Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College. She is also a student in the Coordinated B.A.-M.D. program at CUNY Brooklyn College and SUNY Downstate Medical Center which is a 4+4 BA-MD program. Outside of academics, she conducts undergraduate research in semiconductors for photonic applications,...
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Sienna Leaver
A Long Island native, Sienna is an AP scholar and top 5% in her class at Walt Whitman High School. In the past, she has tutored one-on-one in a wide variety of subject areas including but not limited to Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Living Environment, Chemistry, and Italian. When she’s not tutoring, Sienna enjoys playing piano, writing creatively, and watching football.
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Oree Livni
Oree is a passionate tutor who loves to help students reach their academic goals. After getting his bachelor’s in Mathematics from SUNY Albany in 2020, he’s now pursuing a graduate degree in music composition from Stony Brook University. Raised in Sag Harbor, he found that what helped him succeed in life the most was having a good mentor. Ever since, he has sought to emulate the best of his own te...
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Donald McCarthy
Donald graduated from Adelphi University with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and a Master of Arts in Adolescent Education, before completing his Master of Fine Arts in Writing at City College of New York. For the past eight years at MTP, Donald has worked with students one-on-one, in small groups, in the classroom, and online, helping them with the SAT, ACT, English Regents, and college applica...
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Steve McGrath
With an academic background in English and adolescent education, Steve has brought a unique passion to each of his endeavors with Method Learning over the course of the past 4 years. Whether it be in one on one, group, or class environments, his knowledge, enthusiasm, and calm demeanor have been a boon to hundreds of students. In addition to his role as a tutor, Steve also plays an integral role i...
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Iffat Naveed
Iffat has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Adelphi University. Before joining Method Learning, Iffat had amassed several years of experience in individual and group tutoring for students at the elementary and secondary school levels. Her dream job growing up was to be a teacher, so she is thrilled to be able to teach classes and help numerous students at Method Learning. Iffat und...
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Doreen Rose
Doreen Rose is a New York State Certified Secondary Spanish and Italian teacher, with additional certifications in elementary foreign language and English as a Second Language. She graduated magna cum laude from Arizona State University with dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Journalism and Spanish, and a minor in Portuguese. She received her Master of Science in Secondary Education from Dowlin...
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Hiba Saeed
Hiba is a caring and dedicated tutor who is committed to helping her students reach their full academic potential. Her teaching style emphasizes on breaking down complex concepts tailoring to students needs, promoting active learning and critical thinking. She works with students in person and online, helping them with SAT, ACT, and secondary level Math preparation. In addition, Hiba teaches SAT p...
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Randall Schmollinger
Randall is an experienced tutor with 5 years tutoring at the collegiate level and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Albany in NY. He loves helping students learn and grow along their educational journey. If he's not teaching he likes to practice Brazilian jiu jitsu or go for hikes in the catskill mountains.
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Nicole Velez
I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS from St. Joseph's College with a major in Math Education & a minor in Computer Information Systems. I received my master's degree from Stony Brook University also in Math Education. This is my 20th year teaching high school math. I have a very active family, with 3 kids that keep me busy. We like to have family game nights, movie nights, and to go on hikin...
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Evan Wessler
Evan is Method Learning's Vice President of Student Success. He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Bucknell University with a degree in Biology in 2009. After starting a biomedical sciences PhD program at Harvard University, he decided instead to pursue tutoring and leadership opportunities with Method Learning. Evan’s experience has given him the ability to excel as a top educat...
Sales
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Paige Phillips
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Jeanne Chang
Jeanne is an experienced higher education professional with over 12 years in admissions, including serving as a Senior Director of Admissions. A dedicated college prep consultant, she is passionate about guiding students and families through the admissions process. Based in Los Angeles, California, she balances her professional life with family life as a busy mother of two. A committed communi...
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Anna Allen
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Kyle Henriksen
Kyle is Method Learning's Director of Business Development. He graduated from Pace University in 2011 with a Bachelors in English and minor in applied psychology. He then continued on to receive his MSed in Secondary Education from Hofstra University. Kyle began tutoring students for the SAT and ACT in 2011 and joined Method Learning in 2013 where he serves as a private tutor and classroom inst...
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Jennifer Pitts
With over 20 years of experience in education, I am passionate about building meaningful connections and delivering impactful solutions. As a College Prep Sales Consultant at Method Learning, I guide students and families through every step of the college preparation process, including tutoring, financial aid, and career assessments. Throughout my career, I have been dedicated to fostering stro...
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Katie Littlejohns
Katie was raised in Albuquerque, NM. She received her Bachelor's Degree from the University of New Mexico. As the daughter of an educator, she has always felt passionate about helping students achieve their academic goals. In her previous role, as a director at a tutoring center, she worked to find academic programs and solutions to help students thrive. Katie has been with Method Learning sinc...
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Mary Ivey