Instructors
At Be College Wise, we pride ourselves on our accomplished and very well respected teachers. Our teaching staff is comprised of full time high school teachers and therefore familiar and comfortable with teaching high school students. Our teachers are already specialized and extremely knowledgeable in their subject of either English or Math. All of our teachers like and respect the SAT and pass along that positive attitude to the students who take our course. We have found that students are much more comfortable being taught by their own teachers, so we recruit strong, effective, and passionate teachers from each school site.
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The teachers of these classes are absolutely flawless when it comes to the SAT. This class will earn for you whatever you put into it.”-Chris Pike, Chapparal High School Temecula |
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Gemma Nohilly, Program Director, Math Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley Gemma Nohilly, Program Director, a native of Ireland, immigrated to the U.S. and lived in Santa Monica before moving to Riverside. While living there, she taught Mathematics at St. Monica H.S. and SAT Math prep at UCLA. Mrs. Nohilly is currently a teacher at Rancho Verde HS in Moreno Valley. She has taught all levels of Math from Algebra 1 to Calculus. She earned her primary degree at Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland and her Masters at California State University Northridge. |
John Rockwell, English Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
John Rockwell received his B.A. in English with an emphasis in Professional Writing from the University of Redlands and holds a Masters in Teaching from Chapman University. After college, John worked in the private sector managing a local insurance agency. The draw to the classroom was strong, and he gave up that career to go into public service. For the past seven years, he has been teaching AP Literature and Expository Writing to students at Rancho Verde High School in Moreno Valley. A native Southern Californian, John grew up in Vista, California, and graduated from Rancho Buena Vista High School. There, he participated in the distinguished International Baccalaureate program, and received a seven out of seven on the IB literature test. John makes music in his spare time, and every now and then, he can be found playing his ukulele around various open mike venues in the Inland Empire.
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Michael White, Math Great Oak High School, Temecula
Michael White received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from Eastern Washingtion University, his teaching credential from California State University, Bakersfield and a Master of Arts degree in Education/Teaching from Azusa Pacific University. He has been teaching mathematics for 29 years, 24 of those years in the Temecula Valley Unified School District. He has taught every level from 6th grade Mathematics through AP Calculus BC. He is currently teaching Algebra 1, IB Math SL, IB Math HL I, AP Calculus AB, and AP Calculus BC at Great Oak HS in Temecula. |
David Little, Math Great Oak High School, Temecula
David received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics along with his teaching credential from Cal Poly Pomona and his Master of Science degree in Secondary Curriculum and Instruction from Cal State Fullerton. He taught for 13 years in Walnut Unified School District at both the middle and high school level before joining Great Oak High School, Temecula in 2005. He has taught every level of math from 7th grade to IB High Level. Currently, he teaches Geometry, AP Statistics, AP BC Calculus and IB High Level Math.
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Evan Roman, Math Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
A native of the Inland Empire, Evan received his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Cal. Poly Pomona and his Masters in Multicultural Education from National University. Evan began his educational career in Beaumont, but is currently teaching at Rancho Verde HS (Moreno Valley / Perris). Before teaching, Evan applied his mathematics to both the electronic and automotive industries. |
Florina Lupsaiu, Math Martin Luther King High School, Riverside
Florina Lupsaiu is a PreCalculus Hons teacher at King HS in RUSD. She was recruited by us because of her great reputation from former and current students. |
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Emily Vasquez, Math Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
Emily Vasquez has lived in Riverside county her entire life. She was a very an involved student in her school and community. She started tutoring as her first job in 1999 and has fully enjoyed the pleasure of watching her students succeed in not only their classes but life. Emily received her Bachelors of Science in Mathematics in 2006. She then went on to get her teaching credential and has taught since 2006 at her Alma Mater Rancho Verde High School. Since she enjoyed tutoring so much she helped in the creation of a local Inland Empire Company called "Leading Edge Learning Center" which is a tutoring facility that caters to those individuals who are unable to achieve success on their own. Emily is happy to be a part of the Be College Wise team and looks forward to watching her students get wonderful scores on their SAT. |
Simonette Vermillion, English Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
Simonette Vermillion, born in the Philippines, earned a B.A. in English Education from California State University Long Beach. She has been with the Val Verde District for ten years. She has taught all grade levels of high school English. Currently, she teaches English I College Prep and AVID. |
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Eric Oravets, Math Riverside Poly High School, Riverside
Eric Oravets is a teacher at Riverside Poly HS. He has taught all levels of Math from Pre-Algebra to AP Calculus BC. He has outstanding results on his AP Calculus BC exam, is much loved and respected by Poly students and was highly recruited to join the Be College Wise Team. |
Mariko Yates, Math Centennial High School, Corona/Norco
Mariko Yates received her Bachelors of Art in Mathematics from San Diego State University and her Masters of Art in Mathematics from California State University, Fullerton. She has taught all levels of mathematics from Pre-Algebra to Calculus in the Corona-Norco Unified School District since 1988. She has also taught Algebra and Intermediate Algebra at RCC, Norco Campus, graduate level courses at UC, Riverside Extension Program, and Intermediate Algebra at CSU, Fullerton. |
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Bill Gerdes, English Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
Mr. Gerdes, a native of Riverside, received his Bachelors in English Literature and his Masters in Education from California State University, San Bernardino. Bill has been a teacher with the Val Verde USD for the past 9 years. He teaches AP English Language and Composition as well as College Prep American Literature. |
Christina Lofquist, English Temescal Canyon High School, Lake Elsinore
Christina Lofquist has been teaching English for 10 years at Temescal Canyon H.S. in Lake Elsinore. She earned her B.A. in Literature and Writing Studies at Cal State San Marcos and her teaching credential at Cal State San Bernardino. She has taught SAT prep classes both at Sylvan learning center and as a private tutor. Christina's specialty the past 7 years has been teaching AP Language and Composition. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in English and also hopes to be selected to read at the AP English reading next summer. She currently lives in Menifee with her husband Jaron of 11 years- also a high school teacher-, and their two children Ethan (7 mos) and Rylee (4 yrs).
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Brendan Barrow, Math Temescal Canyon High School, Lake Elsinore
Brendan Barrow graduated from Iona College in New York with a major in Physics and a minor in math. He played water polo at Iona all through his college years. Brendan has been teaching physics for 3 years at Temescal Canyon H.S., has been a private tutor for SAT math for four years and has been a math teacher with Be College Wise for two. Brendan helps coach the water polo and swim teams at Temescal and is currently working on his Master’s degree in Education. In his free time, Brendan likes to scuba dive, watch soccer and work on rebuilding his sailboat. |
Sem Avena, Math Citrus Hill High School, Perris
Sem Avena is an AP Calculus at Citrus Hill HS in Perris. Sem was recruited by Be College Wise because of his success with students at Citrus Hill who take the AP Calculus exam.
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Vivian Castillas, Math Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley Vivian Castillas moved to Riverside from San Diego recently. She teaches at Rancho Verde HS and is a treasured member of the faculty there. She was recruited by BCW because she is an outstanding teacher, and her students love and respect her. |
Josh Brady, English Citrus Hill High School, Perris
Josh Brady is an outstanding English teacher at Citrus Hill HS in Perris. He is dept head and was recruited by Be College Wise because of his reputation of excellence at Citrus Hill. |
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Ashley Rodriguez, English Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
Ashley Rodriguez graduated from UCLA with a major in English. She teaches at Rancho Verde where she was also in the first graduating class! Ashley is also an AVID teacher and was recruited by Be College Wise to teach classes over the summer at California State University San Bernardino in the Upward Bound Program. She was a huge hit with the organizers of the program, and has agreed to stay with our program for the fall. |
Melissa Fink, English Temescal Canyon High School, Lake Elsinore
Melissa Fink graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in English. She continued on to do her teaching credential at SDSU and after graduating, began teaching high school level English. Soon after, Melissa went back to school and received her Master’s Degree in Education. She currently teaches 12th grade Expository Reading and Writing at Temescal Canyon High School. |
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Dana Alvarez, English Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
Dana Alvarez earned her B.A. in English in 1998 from California State University, Long Beach. She is currently writing her Master’s thesis at California State University, San Bernardino. Dana is a native of Southern California, but after finishing her bachelor’s degree, she moved to Europe where she lived in Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein for five years. While abroad, she taught English at many different levels, from primary schools to the top college preparatory school in the capital city, Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Upon her return to the states, Dana was accepted to nursing school, but her love for literature brought her back to the classroom. Dana has been a member of the faculty of Rancho Verde High School for four years. She currently teaches Honors American Literature. |
Michael (Todd) Pollard, English Martin Luther King High School, Riverside
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Esther Kang, English Centennial High School, Corona
Esther Kang is currently an English teacher at Centennial High school in the Corona-Norco Unified School District. She has taught English Language Arts, Puente Language Arts Honors, Sheltered Language Arts, and English Language Development from grades 7-10. She received both her Bachelors of Art in English and Masters in Education from University of California Riverside. She is also the advisor of Key Club International and co-advisor of Puente Club at CeHS. |
Celeste Lallier, English Lakeside High School, Lake Elsinore
Celeste Lallier has been teaching for 14 years. In 1997, she earned her B.A. degree in English from the University of Montana and furthered her education at Cal State Fullerton by completing an M.A. in English in 2005. During her career she has taught everything from eighth-grade retention courses, ELD, and 9-12 ELA courses; but has found her true calling in teaching AP Language and Composition. College Board has extended an invitation to Ms. Lallier to be an A.P. grader for the past two years. She has been employed with the Lake Elsinore Unified School district for the past 11 years and currently teaches at Lakeside High School. In addition to teaching high school courses, Ms. Lallier has also taught composition courses for Mt. San Jacinto College. |
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Jaron Lofquist, Math Lakeside High School, Lake Elsinore
Jaron Lofquist graduated from UCR in 2001 with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Statistics. He received his teaching credential from CSUSB and while attending credential classes took numerous additional math courses to increase his knowledge in mathematics/statistics. He received a master’s degree in Educational Technology from National University in 2006. Jaron has been teaching for 10 years and currently works at Lakeside High School in Lake Elsinore. He is married with two children, loves teaching math and looks forward to helping students achieve the highest possible scores on the math portion of the SAT Examination. |
Rick Robinson, English Rancho Verde High School, Moreno Valley
Rick Robinson has lived in Southern California his whole life. After working in the private sector for 21 years, he returned to college and finished his Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Studies and Masters in Education at National University. He has taught all grade levels of high school English, the last six at Rancho Verde. Helping students excel on the English portion of the SAT has been an important part of the college prep AVID curriculum that he has taught for the last four years. Rick has been married for over 20 years and has two children. He enjoys traveling with his family every summer, coaching little league baseball, and playing golf.
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Amy Groty, English Lakeside High School, Lake Elsinore
Amy Groty has been teaching high school English in the Lake Elsinore School District for the past 11 years. She has taught all levels of English, but has found her passion in teaching English 11 Juniors and AP Literature and Composition. She graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a B.A. in English and earned her teaching credential from Chapman University. She is currently going back to school to earn her Masters in English as well. Mrs. Groty has lived in Southern California most of her life and currently resides in Murrieta with her husband and two children.
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