Dana Gray

Center Director

Pamela Tsakoumakis

Director of Education

Pamela Tsakoumakis earned her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from Cal State Long Beach and her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Education from U.C. Riverside. She has experience teaching all grades K-12 and worked full time in both Fountain Valley and Ocean View School Districts. She also had the opportunity to teach English abroad in Italy when she was studying in Siena for a semester in college. Her experience has allowed her to adapt to all levels of learning.

Matthew J.

Instructor

Matthew graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Classical Civilizations and a minor in Greek. He has worked at Sylvan since January 2011 and is excited to be able to work in the education field. He lives in Long Beach with his wife, Jessica, and their calico cat, Strawberry, where they all too often dine on his favorite food, curry.

Mary

Instructor

Mary graduated from Chapman University with her degree in English Literature in 2007 and her multiple Subject Teaching Credential in 2009. She is currently an elementary school and reading intervention teacher for Garden Grove Unified School District and enjoys finding new ways to motivate and engage her students. Her experience teaching accelerated learners and students with special needs has helped her accommodate a wide variety of scholars. She has been an excellent teacher for Sylvan since June 2009.

Vincent N.

Instructor

Vincent grew up in the San Joaquin Valley of California. He earned a B.A. in English with strong emphasis in creative writing and film studies from California State University, Fresno (the current Poet Laureate of the United States, Philip Levine, was one of Vincent’s professors there). Vincent received a Teaching Credential from National University in 1992. Vincent has taught in public high schools in Central and Southern California and managed new and used bookstores. He especially likes teaching math and writing, and helping students prepare for college. In recent years Vincent’s poetry has been published in several magazines. He collects books and enjoys taking nature walks and hikes with his girlfriend, a librarian.

Kelli K.

Instructor

Kelli graduated from the University of West Florida with her B.A. in Elementary Education. Kelli has been teaching at Sylvan since December 2010.

Racheal M.

Instructor

Racheal graduated from California State University of San Marcos with her B.A. in Liberal studies, and holds a teaching credential. Racheal has been teaching at Sylvan since September of 2009.

Kristen H.

Instructor

Kristen graduated with her B.A. in Liberal Studies from California State University Fullerton. She also continued at the University to receive her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential.

Christopher W.

Instructor

Christopher received his B.S. in 1972 from the Coast Guard Academy. He then received his M.B.A's in Finance and International Business from National University in 1987. Chris also taught at I.T.T. for 28 years, and National University for 5 years. He lives in Huntington Beach, and currently teaches at Chino Hills High School, and has been teaching there for 23 years.

Andrea L.

Teacher's Assistant

Andrea is a junior at the University of Southern California, where she is studying Screenwriting and Electrical Engineering. She has been working as a Teacher’s Assistant at Sylvan since May 2011 and has thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. She lives in Huntington Beach, hopes to be an Imagineer for Disney, and can not get enough of 90’s nostalgia.

Sara K.

Instructor

Sara earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, San Diego in Literature and sociology. She also did her teacher credentialing program as post graduate work at UCSD. She earned a Secondary CLAD credential. She taught high school English for ten years in north county San Diego. The courses she taught were World Literature, American Literature, SAT preparation, and International Baccalaureate/Advanced Placement English. In 2004 Sara moved to Naples, Italy and taught English to Italian students preparing for their Cambridge and Trinity exams. When she returned to the states in 2009, she applied and was accepted to California State Long Beach's Masters of Education program with a focus as a reading specialist. Sara will graduate this spring with a Masters of Education and another teaching credential for grades K-12.