OUR SPECIALISTS

MESSAGE FROM KATIE HART, DIRECTOR

Welcome! Thank you for visiting our website. We are celebrating our 17th year serving Chapel Hill-Carrboro and surrounding area students and love what we do! Before becoming director in 2018, I spent time as a verbal specialist on the ColPrep team. I earned my Masters in Teaching at UNC, and then spent ten years in North Carolina public schools, seven of them in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro system, teaching all grade levels of high school English. While in the CHCCS system, I earned my National Board Certification. I love teaching ColPrep's SAT/ACT Reading and English lessons, developing strategies for college-bound tests, and leading students through the college application and essay process. When I am not scheduling students or working as a specialist myself, I enjoy traveling and spending time outside with my husband and three children.

Our Verbal Team

ADITI is completing her Bachelor of Science in Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in Environmental Health Sciences and minoring in Statistics and Chemistry. Her tutoring philosophy centers around teaching students to encounter uncertainty with greater confidence by breaking down concepts into manageable parts. She is also passionate about helping students find a learning and organizational style that best suits their needs, especially for students that struggle with time management, motivation, and ADHD. She hopes that all students can walk away feeling comfortable asking questions and finding joy in learning. Aditi sees tutoring as a stepping stone for her public service and plans to work as a public health professional in the future, with a focus on health behavior intervention development and health education.

SPECIALIZATIONS: SAT/ACT verbal and math/science strategies, AP Statistics, CC Math 1 through AB Calculus, organization/study skills

JAN is a veteran teacher of middle school and high school English and Social Studies/History in the CHCCS district, with B.A. degrees in English and Journalism from the University of WI Madison. "I love working for ColPrep Tutoring," Jan says. "Nothing is more exciting than seeing a student take a leap of understanding--whether it is during a challenging reading or in constructing an elegant sentence." When not tutoring, Jan is working furiously on her own first novel.

SPECIALIZATIONS: middle school/high school reading, organization/study skills, pre-ACT and PSAT previews, assessments, and reviews; APUSH success, SAT and ACT verbal strategies; and writing skills (college applications/essays, writing improvement and/or enrichment)

RALPH earned his BA in English from UNC-CH and his MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College. He taught grant writing to graduate students at Tulane University for sixteen years and first-year composition at NCCU for a decade. He has published a number of short stories and novels; most recently he published "Argos: The Story of Odysseus as Told by His Loyal Dog" with HarperCollins. After sending two children to college recently he understands the college application process and is eager to help students find their "authentic voice" in order to craft impactful essays.

SPECIALIZATIONS: writing specialist (college applications/essays, fundamentals of grammar/punctuation, writing improvement and/or enrichment), SAT/ACT verbal strategies

Our Math and Science Team

CAITLIN is a chemistry Ph.D. student at UNC Chapel Hill studying the biosynthesis of bacterial natural products. She graduated from Binghamton University in 2021 with a B.S. in chemistry
with an emphasis in biological chemistry. Caitlin was a general chemistry teaching assistant for three years in undergrad and a biochemistry lab teaching assistant for her first year of graduate
school. Her passion for STEM makes her excited to help students learn and develop useful study habits in these subjects. Outside of school, Caitlin enjoys playing the clarinet, going for walks, and hanging with her cat Maisie.
SPECIALIZATIONS: Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Math through Algebra II, and SAT/ACT Math/Science.

CONNOR is completing his PhD in Environmental Sciences and Engineering at UNC's School of Public Health, conducting research on environmental microbiology and antibiotic resistance in environmental waters (including a recent project tracking COVID-19 in wastewater). He graduated from Rutgers University with a major in Biotechnology and minors in Biochemistry and Environmental Science. Connor loves thinking through mathematical and scientific reasoning and has a passion for communicating science to all audiences. He also is passionate about music and plays the drums for multiple local bands of varying genres.
SPECIALIZATIONS: SAT/ACT Math/Science and Verbal Strategies, Math 1-2, AP Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences

EMILY is a current Ph.D. graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill studying chemistry and biophysics. She graduated with her BS in chemistry from the University of California, Irvine in 2020. During her first year at UNC-Chapel Hill, Emily was a teaching assistant for an undergraduate biochemistry course. Her main goal is to help students learn by providing good study habits and tools that they need to thrive in the classroom. During her free time, Emily enjoys dancing and binge-watching Netflix. SPECIALIZATIONS: All college level chemistry courses/AP Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Biology, Math up to Calculus AB & BC.

JORDEN is completing his PhD in Bioinformatics at North Carolina State University. His current research focuses on improving the accuracy of microbiome measurements through validation of existing computational techniques and the identification of sources of error and bias. He graduated Brandeis University with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. He enjoys helping students succeed and develop an appreciation for the material and learning in general. In his free time Jorden enjoys reading and playing Dungeon and Dragons.
SPECIALIZATIONS: SAT/ACT Math/Science and Verbal Strategies, Essay Development, AB Calculus, All college level Math/Science, AP Biology and Chemistry, Study Strategies

JULIAN is currently completing his Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Machine Learning at Carnegie Mellon University. He likes to tutor in a style that focuses on gaining the foundations of concepts and then applying them to problem sets. Julian also strives to alleviate the stress of not knowing how to start a type of problem and not having a blueprint to follow. He wants his students to feel ready to work independently on the topics learned during his sessions. Lastly, Julian wants to keep an open dialogue between students and himself even after the session ends to make sure they feel prepared to work on their own.

SPECIALIZATIONS: CC Math 1 through BC Calculus, ACT/SAT Math and Science

SHANNON completed her undergraduate education at Rhodes College in 2016 and went straight to graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Shannon was awarded her Ph.D. for her dissertation research focused on quantifying protein-protein interactions in living E. coli cells under Dr. Gary Pielak. She currently works as a scientist developing analytical characterization methods for vaccines, fusion proteins, and gene therapy products. Shannon has tutored many middle school, high school and college students in math and science subjects while in undergraduate and graduate school.

SPECIALIZATIONS: CC Math I through BC Calculus, Chemistry, Biology, SAT/ACT Math/Science, Study skills/organization

TREVOR is a fifth-year Neurobiology graduate student at Duke University. He holds two Biomedical Engineering Degrees; he received his BS degree from Rutgers University and his MS degree from Northwestern University. His research interest is in Neuroengineering and brain-related technologies. Outside of the lab he likes hanging out with friends, playing games, and watching TV.

SPECIALIZATIONS: CC Math 1 through BC Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, AP Physics, ACT/SAT Math/Science