(860) 510-0410
dcapuano@learningconsultantsgroup.com
(203) 451-0429
sstaunton@learningconsultantsgroup.com

New Jersey

New Jersey

Helping your children reach their potential
in Union County and surrounding areas

Learning Consultants of NJ continues the mission of our business with over 20 years of experience and success transforming students and lives.

Our tutors are not just skilled in their area of expertise; they are highly motivated and caring people. Our goal is to connect with students and find ways to reinforce the skills and materials they are teaching. Most importantly, our goal is to make students independent learners so that they can take what they learn in tutoring sessions and apply them to their school-work and beyond. Often, this means thinking outside of the box and presenting information in a different way. Sometimes a student benefits from a more visual approach, often material needs to be broken down into smaller bits or a step by step approach is needed to understanding the material; whatever the case, our tutors create and find those avenues to make learning possible.

Our tutors come to us with strong and diverse backgrounds, making us ready to meet every challenge and fit your needs. We are passionate about helping students learn and interested in making learning interesting.

Our expert offerings also include college consultation, vocational consultation, and executive/organizational tutoring.

Our Team

Laura Desai
Site Director

The Learning Consultants is excited to announce that Laura Desai will become the Site Director for The Learning Consultants, New Jersey.

Laura’s extraordinary career in the education space makes her well positioned to help families navigate the challenges they face as they navigate their children’s educational journey. Laura has held senior administrative positions at several outstanding private schools including Ying Hua International School, where Laura serves as the Head of School, Waterfront Montessori, where Laura served as the Associate Head of School, The Lewis School of Princeton, where Laura served as the Senior Administrator and Director of School Activities, and The Pennington school where she served as the Director of International Students.
In addition to her senior-level administrative positions, Laura has consulted and volunteered for numerous private and public schools in a variety of areas designed to help students and families.

Laura’s journey into education stemmed from her deep and varied teaching background. Most significantly, Laura was named Teacher of the Year for the School during her time at Hamilton Township Public Schools. There, Laura was also entrenched in coaching multiple sports, designing cultural enrichment programs, and serving as a member of the Core Leadership Team. Prior to working within the Hamilton Township Public School district, Laura worked in several diocesan schools and started her career at Merrill Lynch where, among other roles, she was the College Recruitment Manager.

Laura’s personal interests include yoga and traveling. She is a certified yoga instructor and has traveled through 18 countries and 32 states with her family and friends.

Derrick Bell
Derrick Bell
Tutor

My name is Derrick Bell and I have been in education for over 16 years. I got into teaching through the Teach for America program and have taught all levels of math (5th-10th) in Arizona, Connecticut, New
York, Venezuela, and New Jersey. I am fully certified K-8 Math in New Jersey and hold my Supervisor Certificate in New Jersey. I am currently the Associate Director of Math at Uncommon Schools, an organization of high performing public charter schools based out of New York. I also have a wealth of experience tutoring in individual and group settings. I am extremely passionate about math education and have a firm belief that every student can learn and learn to love math.

Susan Szachara
Susan Szachara
Tutor

Susan has been a math tutor for over 25 years. She specializes in tutoring high school students with their school courses and standardized testing. Susan has been consistently successful in enabling her students to achieve and often exceed their goals. She has experience tutoring students of all academic levels, including students with learning and social disabilities.

Susan received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in math from Binghamton University. Prior to becoming a math tutor, Susan worked as a statistician for an electronics manufacturing company and as an actuary for one of the “Big Four” accounting firms in New York City. During that time she also began tutoring students in math and realized that this was where her passion lay. Susan became a full time math tutor and has been helping students reach their goals ever since.

Yazmin Williams
Yazmin Williams
Tutor

I am Yazmin, a recent graduate from Rutgers University-New Brunswick. I majored in Biological Sciences with a minor in Music Technology while in the pre-medicine track. I intend to start medical school next year and this pursuit allowed me to understand upper-level science courses. In turn, I have helped others along the way attain a deeper comprehension of tough concepts. I have tutored various subjects over the past two years including Physics, Genetics, Biology, Chemistry, and Calculus. I have experience with standardized test prep and can tutor AP exams, SAT, SAT Subject Tests, and the ACT.

As a member of Rutgers-Honors College, I have utilized the motto of Curiosity. Knowledge. Purpose. The most important gift that any professor gave me is curiosity. As a tutor, I believe it is my role to inspire that curiosity in my students so they can truly explore a subject and express their findings. Attaining knowledge in this manner allows for the subject to take on a purpose, which lets the process of learning the material to become enjoyable. This motto has influenced my teaching style to entail connecting concepts from various areas of the subject so the topic can be understood and appreciated.

Andrew Poenicke
Andrew Poenicke
Tutor

Andy graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School. He was the top ranked student in his Mechanical Engineering class and researched non-recourse loans for Dr Susan Wachter, former Assistant Secretary of HUD under Andrew Cuomo in the Clinton Administration. After Penn, he worked in energy finance and became the oil trader on a desk for a Fortune 500 company. He eventually began to trade his own book and also rediscovered his love for tutoring by teaching math, science and even medical sonography from people that recommended him. His love of teaching led him to focus more on educating the next generation, not only in a greater understanding of the subject material, but how to cope with the rigors of college and life past high school. In his spare time, Andy enjoys cooking and often can be found smoking ribs or an entire pork shoulder in a cardboard box. He volunteers as an advocate for foster children in Manhattan Family Court while trying to read a book a week.

Jennifer Studnicky
Jennifer Studnicky
Tutor

I join the Learning Consultants bringing with me over 20 years of experience educating students in English language arts and college counseling, along with a desire to provide
them with a meaningful and purposeful educational environment.

I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education and Education at Seton Hall University and possesses a Master of Science degree in Instruction and Curriculum from Scranton University.

As a teacher, I have had the opportunity of working with a number of students of a variety of levels and abilities. Surrounded with a population of widespread cultures, socioeconomics, and abilities has taught me a great deal of valuing the individual through the culturally responsive pedagogy which I establish in my instructional practices. I have taught and tutored a number of English courses, genres and electives, including American and British literature, AP composition and language, AP literature, literary criticism, creative and post-high school writing. I am well-versed in the college admissions process, especially with the Common/Coalition Application essays, supplements, and personal statements.

Understanding the need to have our texts relate to our readers, I also work on restructuring the high school English curriculum in my district to diversify the literary canon and designing activities which work in tandem with the traditional texts, yet give voice to our learners. Another facet contributing to my abilities is serving as a teacher consultant through the National Writing Project. In this position, I am able to evaluate and create meaningful resources to contribute to teachers as both writers and instructors of writing.

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to broaden my expertise to extend beyond the classroom. My strong interest in framework analysis has allowed me to pursue work in redesigning my district’s English curricula in conjunction with the Common Core and New Jersey State Learning Standards. Additionally, I currently serve on the English Language Arts committee for the New Jersey Department of Education where I assist in evaluating the current curriculum content to ensure its fairness and alignment with nation and state standards for implementation in standardized testing.

I am very excited to be a part of The Educational Consultants team and look forward to equipping your child with the proper tools and understanding they need in order to ensure their success.

New Jersey Education Expert Articles

College Counseling New Jersey: It’s As Much About College-Career as High School to College

Having grown up in New Jersey, the bulk of my high school friends and acquaintances now have their children immersed in high schools across New Jersey.  Most every week, I’m engaged in college counseling, formally and informally, with my New Jersey brethren. “He wants to study film.” Mike, a parent of student from Princeton noted. […]

Yes, New Jersey Students – prep for the SAT

Students from New Jersey’s affluent suburbs should – or arguably – must prepare as vigorously as possible for the SATs.  The simplest explanation: most students from Princeton, Pennington, and Lawrenceville, among other leavy New Jersey town, do not have the demographics or the life stories that make them compelling candidates for competitive colleges.  Given grade […]

Contact Us

Holly Folgia
(908) 514-7475
nj@learningconsultantsgroup.com

Send a message:

Our Services Area Includes:

  • Union County
  • Cranford
  • Westfield
  • Clark
  • Summit
  • Kenilworth
  • Union
  • Elizabeth
  • Linden
  • Scotch Plains
  • Plainfield
  • Springfield
  • Roselle
  • Rahway
  • Hillside
  • Roselle Park
  • New Providence
  • Garwood
  • Berkeley Heights
  • Mountainside
  • Fanwood
  • Winfield