Breanna L.

Breanna is a dedicated educator with a passion for helping young learners. She graduated from Elmhurst University in May of 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, an endorsement for teaching Multilingual English Learners, a letter of approval to teach Early Childhood Special Education, and a minor in Music.

Breanna is a first-year Kindergarten teacher excitedly preparing to continue teaching Kindergarten in her second year next fall. With many years of childcare experience behind her, having worked as a babysitter, nanny, and tutor, she brings a warm and patient approach to teaching. She enjoys finding ways to make learning fun and meaningful.

In her free time, Breanna loves to sing, play instruments, crochet, and hike. She loves to spend time with her family. She has a family dog named Riley. She also adopted her first pet in August – an 8 year old cat named Callie!

Maddie B.

Maddie currently works as an administrative assistant in road construction but discovered a passion for helping people as a substitute teacher at Stevenson High School. She grew up in Illinois, but moved to Vancouver, BC, to complete a Bachelor of Arts in history with a minor in Spanish. Along the way, she discovered that she enjoyed her minor much more than history and completed additional classes in Spanish/English translation with UC San Diego Extension. Nowadays, Maddie is preparing for grad school to switch to a career in Occupational Therapy, but she still enjoys using and learning Spanish as well as teaching it to others. Beyond academic and career pursuits, her favorite activities include reading, art, and skiing. She hopes to start enjoying rock climbing once she’s gone a few more times.

Rebecca T.

Rebecca is a licensed French teacher with over a decade of experience teaching in McHenry county. Growing up in Dupage county, she graduated from Wheaton North High School before pursuing a French degree from University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. During her studies she lived in the historic heart of Paris where she quickly fell (more) in love with French language, culture, and travel. Upon graduation she returned to school to pursue a Masters in Teaching from National Louis University.

Throughout her tenure as an educator in McHenry county, Rebecca built a thriving French program infusing music, film, and pop-culture into her lessons. She won the Star 105.5 teacher of the month in November of her second year teaching after being nominated by several of her students. She ran a robust French club hosting activities from movie nights to cheese tastings, field trips to French restaurants, and cooking demonstrations. She also organized, planned, and chaperoned overseas travel to France where her students could put their skills to the test in an authentic setting.

As a lifelong learner Rebecca takes pride in the learning process. She loves to watch the light-bulb moment when a new concept clicks for a student. Outside the classroom Rebecca likes to spend time with her family, travel, read, and cook. She looks forward to helping your student get excited about French and the Francophone world!

Nora W.

Nora is a third-year graduate student at the College of William & Mary, on track to become a certified school psychologist upon graduating in May 2025. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Marquette University and has several years of experience working with children in both clinical and educational settings. As a future school psychologist, Nora is well-versed in child development, learning differences, and evidence-based instructional strategies. She has extensive training in assessing cognitive and academic strengths, identifying learning barriers, and implementing tailored interventions to support student success. Her expertise allows her to adapt her tutoring methods to each student’s unique needs. She also incorporates interactive and multi-sensory activities to make learning engaging and effective. Nora is passionate about helping students build confidence and develop skills that extend beyond the classroom. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, working out, and making crafts.

Ann S.

Ann Stec grew up teaching.  As the oldest of four children, and the only girl, she would often create a “classroom” for her younger brother, taking them through practice with letters and numbers.  Her mom would buy used workbooks at thrift stores for her to use with her “pupils” each week. Ann loved it–her brothers were decidedly on the fence! 

When it was time to officially choose a career, Ann went to Illinois State and graduated with a B.S. in Education with concentrations in Language Arts and Reading.  Her plan was to teach junior high school students to love reading and learning.  But a few years into teaching, Ann was recruited to teach teachers at the elementary level how to teach reading in their classrooms.  It was a leap–big kids to little–but it turned out to be a game changer!

While working at the elementary level, Ann found that some students continued to struggle to acquire literacy skills, despite receiving intervention.  She realized she needed to learn more about how to help these students and decided to pursue her Wilson Level 1 certification.  She credits that decision as the single best decision of her professional career and she has spent the last nineteen years of her career helping kids who learn differently master how to read.

Ann believes that the best instruction–at any level–empowers students to be reflective learners and goal setters.  She believes that teacher, parent and student comprise the learning team and is an advocate of working with parents and students together in order to help all kids reach their academic potential.

Ann is in her 29th year of teaching and  currently works as a Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach in Naperville 203.  She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching, is ELL certified and is a certified Wilson Level 1 Instructor. In her free time, she volunteers with animal welfare agencies (she has nine pets!), READS, thrifts, travels, and hangs out with her favorite people as much as possible.

Michael Z.

Michael A. Zaucedo graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2021. He grew up in Chicago, IL and attended a boarding High school at Lake Forest Academy in 2011. Michael grew up with a deep love for Science and Mathematics and took a study abroad opportunity in Costa Rica in the summer of 2018 to study an indigenous plant called Jatoba. During the summer of 2019, he discovered his passion for teaching and working with children when completing his teaching internship at High Jump Chicago as a teaching assistant (TA) for Chemistry––through teaching, he fostered his love for Chemistry and Mathematics. In his spare time, Michael works one-on-one with students ranging from middle through High School. He encouraged and supported the improvement of their Chemistry, and Mathematics skills ranging from Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus. As a mentor, Michael continues to develop strategies for working with students and believes that building strong relationships will grow their learning and help guide them to reach their full potential toward being a well rounded student. Michael enjoys playing sports like baseball, basketball and football, watching suspense movies, as well as spending time with his family and friends.

Jean G.

Jean has 12 years of teaching experience, and is passionate about working with students in the early elementary grades. She began her career as a Kindergarten teacher and has experience teaching grades Kindergarten through 3rd, most recently acting as a 3rd grade teacher in Bonita Springs, Florida. Jean feels strongly that students learn best when the teacher develops an impactful student relationship, and the student is motivated by this relationship to learn. She loves to make learning fun in the younger years! When Jean moved to Chicago to be closer to family, she realized she missed connecting with students and loves the flexibility the tutoring position brings to her busy life. She also loves the ability to connect to students one-on-one, and see their academic growth. Jean received her Bachelor’s Degree in Family and Child Science from Florida State University, and since then obtained her reading endorsement (PreK-12) as well as a certification of completion in Orton-Gillingham reading instruction.

When not teaching and tutoring, Jean enjoys spending time with her husband and two young boys. She loves to explore local parks, trails and all things nature. She is still getting used to “Chicago winters” but is up for the challenge! Jean loves cooking and watching FSU sports. She is looking forward to meeting local students and families and helping students achieve academic success!

Angelica S.

Beth P.

Alongside having years of tutoring experience, Beth tutors students where she fosters an engaging, personalized one-on-one interactive lesson. Beth has tutored students aged PreK to middle school, with a focus on reading. She also has led small tutoring groups of elementary-aged learners. Beth earned her BA in History with a Music minor from Elmhurst University. As a mentor, Beth continues to develop strategies for working with children of all ages and finds these experiences enjoying and extremely rewarding! In her spare time, Beth enjoys gardening, playing her flute, and spending time with family and friends.

Mack O.

Mack has 10 years of teaching experience. Born in 1992, he grew up in Oak Park, playing every sport imaginable. Upon graduation from OPRF he went to Illinois State University. Here, he started as a business major but realized he would rather be in the business of Education and switched his major after freshman year, taking one class over the allowed amount each semester to catch up and graduate in four years. He earned a degree in Middle Level Education (6th to 9th), with a primary endorsement in Mathematics and a secondary endorsement in English. There were many times he told others that he wanted to be a middle school teacher and they couldn’t believe that was the age group he wanted to be in the classroom with. However, he knew that is a very impressionable and important age in a child’s life, and he wanted to contribute to their growth, being a positive role model and helping them mature any way that he could. After graduating ISU, he moved to Arizona and taught Math for 10 years and again, was able to coach every sport imaginable.