Our People
We're all about connections between students and tutors! To learn more about our main chapter people and what they love to do, check out their pictures and descriptions below. We'd love to meet you! To get to know our Pennsylvania and New York chapter staff, please see their respective pages.
Michelle Chen: Co-founder, Director, Tutor
Michelle is a dedicated student attending the Kinkaid School. She loves kids, and her goal when co-founding this organization was to help them associate learning with something enjoyable. Michelle consistently earns high honors every school year. At the Kinkaid School, she was the recipient of the Herder Fellowship for Science Research, Advanced Chemistry Award, and the English II Award. Michelle is also a two-time qualifier for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME). She is enthusiastic about the STEM community within her school, as well: she serves as the president of FalconSTEM, an organization dedicated to preparation for STEM competitions, in addition to serving as the president of the Math Club. In 2023, her poster presentation placed 1st in the "Undergraduate" division of the Welch Conference on Chemical Research. Outside of academics, she loves being a part of the varsity soccer and cross country team at her high school, reading historical fiction, and spending time with friends and family. Michelle hopes to get to know you soon and play some games too! Happy learning :)
Prisha Verma: Co-founder, Director, Tutor
Prisha is a diligent senior at Shadow Creek High School. Through co-founding Vern Tutoring Classroom during the pandemic, she has found a way to share her passion for knowledge. From acing her classes to scoring well on the PSAT and SAT, she consistently excels in her studies, and, as a result, was able to skip a grade. Her personal experiences allow her to understand that proper teaching methods are essential for students to achieve high academic outcomes. STEM subjects are her forte, demonstrated by her roles at school as vice president in both the Math Honor Society and the Rocketry Club. Recently, Prisha authored a research article in the journal Cancer Research and presented a poster at the annual meeting for American Association for Cancer Research. She is currently interning at MD Anderson, following the footsteps of her mom and pursuing her love for science and discovery. While academics are her focus, Prisha finds joy in the little things- reading, taking walks by the lake, practicing taekwondo, and spending quality time with her sister Saisha, who has also become a tutor. Prisha hopes to see you in class! :)
Lydia Tong: Co-founder, Director, Tutor
Lydia is a passionate student from Houston, Texas attending Bellaire High School. She maintains straight A’s in a highly competitive program while balancing a myriad of extracurriculars. Writing is one of Lydia’s greatest passions, and she has been awarded international and national awards for her works. She has also won multiple awards for creative writing, including the National Scholastic Writing Awards. Lydia is the editor-in-chief for the Three Penny Press, her school's internationally award-winning newspaper. Concurrently, Lydia is extremely passionate about the sciences. She has taught many classes in health science and loves hosting Diagnosing Diseases! Lydia has prior experience with tutoring from individual 1 on 1s and volunteering at Camp Mi Way for kids with special needs. Some hobbies she enjoys are cooking, photography, playing with her cat, and hanging out with her family and friends. Lydia loves helping out eager students, and through co-founding this non-profit, she looks forward to teaching and mentoring her students!
Cindy Cui: Tutor
Hey there! I'm Cindy Cui and I'm currently a senior at Carnegie Vanguard High School. I'm super excited to be teaching all different types of kids who are looking to excel academically, as well as just meeting and interacting with new students. Currently, I'm really into debate, specifically Lincoln Douglas, and I've competed very regularly, placing 4th speaker nationally in 7th grade and frequently placing top 3 in tournaments hosted by the Houston Urban Debate League in high school. I've always done well academically, scoring a perfect score on the math PSAT 8/9 and 99th percentile for all subjects, and hope to pass on some of my experience to my juniors. When I'm not doing schoolwork or studying, I love spending time with my baby sister, playing tennis, and especially cooking. On lazy weekends, I always enjoy watching anime and hanging out with my friends. With focus being a major problem with virtual environments, I'll work hard to keep class fun and engaging through the semester and I look forward to our tutoring sessions!
Julia Hu: Tutor
Julia is a determined high school student who is thrilled to aid in the education of others. She attends Debakey High School and sustains straight A’s in one of the top schools in the state. She’s participated in competitions like Name that Book and has been acknowledged for her SAT scores by Duke Tip. Julia has also had experience in leadership and teaching roles like small group robotics, one on one flute lessons, and was the president of her middle school band program. She’s also worked with younger students as she volunteers at a summer camp. You can also find her displaying this energy on the soccer field where she gives it her all and thrives to improve everyday. Julia is committed to make learning enjoyable even in these tough times. She understands that learning new concepts or touching up on old material in a virtual setting is a challenge, but it's her goal to engage students in a way that helps them grasp concepts with ease. Can’t wait to meet you in the classroom!
Julia Nguyen: Tutor
Julia Nguyen is a dedicated and accomplished student at The Kinkaid School who excels in subjects across the board. She has earned numerous academic awards, from the Freshman History Award to the Spanish III Award, and was the recipient of the Statistics and Spanish IV awards in 2023. Julia has taken AP World History, Music Theory, Spanish Language, US History, and Statistics throughout high school and has earned all 5s on her AP exams thus far. She loves both writing and math and achieves high marks on essays and exams, having earned a perfect score on her US History paper about East Asian civil rights. Aside from being an excellent student, Julia is a passionate pianist who has advanced to finals at many competitions, including HMTA and TMTA. Recently, she won 3rd place at the state round of the TMTA Concerto Competition and was elected president of the Busking at Kinkaid Club. In her free time, Julia loves to read, compose music, and watch Friends and The Big Bang Theory. Julia is excited to be a Vern tutor and looks forward to meeting her students!
Jessica Zhang: Tutor
Jessica is a creative, multitalented fine arts student with experience in visual arts, theater production, and musical ensembles. Over the many cultural adaptations from China to England to America, she remains a straight A student throughout her entire academic journey. Jessica is currently a freshman at the John Cooper School studying over 5 variations of visual arts. She has won several UIL prizes and countless awards for her outstanding works, and Jessica hopes to bring inspiration to anyone interested. Besides her numerous successes in works of art, she has been a part of the GTA (Gifted and Talented Academy) and numerous High Honor Rolls for her educational recognitions. In addition to her love for the arts, Jessica also engages in a diversity of recreational activities like tennis, volleyball, watching dramas, socially interacting, and listening to countless genres of music. She was, furthermore, put on the Varsity Swim Team and the Honors Band as a 3rd chair clarinetist. With all her experience, Jessica hopes to see you in her class as she brings motivation to enlighten her students!
Saisha Verma: Tutor
Saisha is a passionate tutor who goes to Nolan Ryan. She has always been fascinated with education and loves to share her knowledge with kids. Saisha is in all advanced classes and has maintained straight A’s in every class. Saisha loves STEM and has won many awards for her district and Houston STEM fair projects since elementary. This year she won a SEFH innovative award from NASA. Over the years, Saisha has also won many UIL awards. In class, Saisha hopes to make her lessons engaging and informative. When not tutoring, Saisha enjoys reading a good book, baking delicious baked goods, practicing taekwondo, and hanging out with her older sister, Prisha! Saisha can’t wait to work with you to help you achieve your academic goals!
Malak Ettahali: Tutor
Born in Houston, Malak is a high school senior at Shadow Creek High School with a love for school and children! If you don’t find her studying at home, you can catch her at the tennis courts, listening to music, watching movies, or maybe even tutoring your student! Malak has maintained straight A’s in advanced curriculum courses while still being on her school’s tennis team and being an active member in many of her school’s clubs. She’s also been recognized on the state level for her SAT scores, and scored in the 99th percentile for both the PSAT 8 and 9. Malak has a bit of tutoring experience, helping her peers learn and master math. As a Vern tutor, Malak hopes to inspire your child to find a love for learning, and she hopes to see your student in class soon!
Anna Adebola: Tutor
Anna is a hardworking senior at Shadow Creek High School. She maintains straight A's while being the secretary of HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America), being in the Academic Decathlon club, and holds a leadership position in the Literacy Council at her high school. In 2021, she accumulated the most volunteer hours for HOSA and took 11 college credits in the summer. In 2020, she was voted Most Valuable Player on her track team and the Best Player at the Rice University Volleyball Club. She was the secretary of the National Junior Honor Society, received the Athletic Leadership award, and received an award for having the highest scoring history essay in her grade level. When she is not swamped with a ton of homework, she enjoys reading, crocheting, and visiting history museums. She is enthusiastic about tutoring students and can't wait for them to start learning new content!
Madison Burba: Tutor
Madison is currently a high school senior at one of the most prestigious schools in the state, the Kinkaid School. Having spent years helping her two younger siblings with their homework, she is confident in my ability to be patient with my students and make my classes fun and entertaining. In addition to maintaining straight A’s while taking all honors and AP classes, she has won over a dozen National and State awards for her writing. The most notable of these include the National Scholastic Silver Medal for her short story, A Second Chance, as well as several “gold keys” from National Scholastic on a statewide level. She’s also been published for the past three years in the iWRITE Short Stories Anthology contest. As a passionate writer, she’s been part of iWRITE for the past three years, promoting literacy and a love of writing in underprivileged elementary school kids by bringing iWRITE to after school programs. When she’s not writing or working on homework, she enjoys spending time playing volleyball and polo. She also loves volunteering at SoleAna stables, a nonprofit organization that provides equestrian therapy to kids with autism and Down syndrome, and has worked for over a year with Sasha Camacho, the founder, to create volunteer training videos for her Girl Scout Gold Award.
Ava Abraham: Tutor
Bio coming soon!
Jerry Tong: Social Media Manager and Tutor
Jerry is a bright ninth grader at Glenda Dawson High School with a hunger for learning and teaching. Skipping two grades of math and doubling up on science, he is currently taking PAP Algebra 2 and PAP Chemistry. He is also an all-A student who is always seeking to get better. Before and after school, he can likely be seen at the gym lifting weights, on the mat wrestling, or building robots with The Pearanauts. Outside of school, Jerry enjoys creative writing, music production, user interface programming, digital art, tennis, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, tutoring, and watching movies. Writing since he was 11, he has earned many awards including the Best in Grade Award and a gold medal in nationals in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition. His previous experiences with teaching include a creative writing course, digital art lessons, and multiple arts and crafts classes with many diverse groups. Even though learning online is difficult, Jerry believes that he can educate and entertain students. He intends to spread his love and desire for knowledge and can’t wait to teach!
Ella Schmulen: Tutor
Bio coming soon!
Jessica Wang: Pennsylvania Chapter Director and Tutor
Jessica is a rising sophomore at Germantown Academy, located in Pennsylvania. She is a diligent student passionate about STEM, and takes all honors courses while maintaining high grades in her academic classes. Despite her school teaching biology only in junior year, Jessica has already begun to self-study advanced biology and has delved deep into the AP biology textbook: Campbell Biology. Additionally, she has recently finished completing her honors Physics course this past school year. On top of her academic endeavors, Jessica loves playing the cello and performs for the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra – the most prestigious youth orchestra in Pennsylvania and one of the world’s top youth orchestra programs. Further, Jessica has played tennis since the age of eight and plays first singles on her school's varsity tennis team and was recently awarded the Most Value Player award this past year. Jessica is extremely excited to get to know her students and inspire those around her!
Max Wu: Pennsylvania Chapter Director and Tutor
Max is an ambitious student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and will be attending Methacton High School as a sophomore. Max is interested in all aspects of academics, but his main passion lies in finance. He was awarded 1st in the State for the Stock Market Competition run by the SIFMA foundation, and 3rd in the State for the Future Business Leaders of America(FBLA) Computer Application category. Max is an active member in school, and is on his High School Varsity track team, and is also the co-founder of the Methacton Debate Club. Max also plays violin daily, and will be attending the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra(PYAO) this fall. Another passion of Max's is Computer Science, where he has learned up to an AP Computer Science level, and has 5+ years of experience. Other than academic pursuits, Max likes to read, play basketball, and hang out, or play video games with his friends. Max is ready to start teaching and helping students, and is looking forward to motivating and inspiring other ambitious students!
Emona Ji: Social Coordinator and Tutor
Emona is an eager junior student at The Kinkaid School located in Houston, Texas. She maintains good grades in all honors classes at school while being a member of the Student Diversity Leadership board, the Wellness Committee, the Ceramics club, and the Album Listening club. In addition, she is also a part of the Junior Varsity Soccer and Tennis team at her school. She has a passion for the arts and has the ability to work with many mediums. So far in high school, she has taken Drawing and Painting I, Drawing and Painting II, Photography I, and Photography II, and the Ceramics Club. She has also traveled to Santa Fe for an art study for female artists with her school. She has won multiple awards for her artwork, including several honorable mentions in the Duck Stamp Competition and a gold key in the Scholastic Competition. She also participated in the Art League Houston Art Intensive last summer where she participated in a group exhibition. She has had previous teaching experience where she taught art to underprivileged elementary students. When not painting or participating in school activities, she enjoys watching movies and shows, listening to music, and going to concerts. She looks forward to inspiring her students and encouraging them to express their creativity in fun and exciting ways that will enhance their skill and love for the arts!
Andrew Tang: New York Chapter Director and Tutor
Andrew is a Sophomore attending Stuyvesant High School, one of the 9 specialized high schools in New York City. Before he attended his dream high school, he took several online training classes too, just like what you are doing now. Andrew is a hard worker who always practices what he struggles with by practicing every day and working with others in a study group. He is confident that you will be successful in your studies if you work hard. Andrew enjoys the outdoors and is a member of Stuyvesant's rowing club. He has played table tennis for 6 years competitively now and is the captain of Stuyvesant's Table Tennis team. He excels in math and science in middle school. Andrew enjoys Math, Social Studies, and science. Andrew can’t wait to meet you!
Ryan Rexford
Bio coming soon!
Stella Hall
Bio coming soon!
Sarah Adebola
Bio coming soon!
Jason Wang
Bio coming soon!
Eshing Ji: Tutor
Eshing is a motivated high school senior at the Kinkaid School. She is a dedicated student who has been on the honor roll every year since middle school. She has taken many AP and honors classes, and has a strong computer science background. She worked at her high school’s IT department last summer configuring computers. She was selected to join the Rice University Data Scientist in Training program, and is currently one of the two programmers for her school’s VEX Robotics team. She has taken many coding classes and participated in the Inspirit AI Scholar Summer Program. She has a passion for art as well, which has earned her several awards for her artwork, including a scholastic gold key and the first place in her district’s Congressional Art Competition in 2021. She is also vice president of her school’s Art Club. She loves baking and reading in her free time. She started teaching web design for the Fall semester of 2022, and looks forward to sharing her knowledge and teaching more students.