category: High School

Bill Army

October 10, 2015

Bill Army made his professional theatrical debut at the age of nineteen. After graduating from Middlebury College with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre, Bill matriculated to the Tisch Graduate Acting Program at New York University obtaining a Master of Fine Arts in Acting. At Tisch, he had the opportunity to work with Tony-Award and Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Playwright and Screenwriter, Tony Kushner on the world premiere of his play, Henry Box Brown directed by Mark Wing Davey.

Bill has performed in several successful and critically-acclaimed plays musicals, and revues. On Broadway, he has originated roles in Relatively Speaking three one-act plays written by Ethan Coen, Elaine May, and Woody Allen, directed by John Turturro, Act One at Lincoln Center Theater written and directed by James Lapine. and The Band’s Visit (Winner of Ten Tony Awards including “Best New Musical,” The Grammy Award for “Best Musical Theater Album,” and the Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program”) written by Itamar Moses, David Yazbek, and directed by David Cromer. Off-Broadway, he has performed with The Public Theater, The Atlantic Theater Company, Red Bull Theater, and in the hit revue Old Jews Telling Jokes at the Westside Theater directed by Marc Bruni. Bill was a company member of the Off-off Broadway company the Potomac Theatre Project for eighteen years, performing most notably in Lunch by Steven Berkoff, Scenes from an Execution, No End of Blame, and The Europeans by Howard Barker and Vinegar Tom by Caryl Churchill. Regionally, Bill has worked with The Westport Country Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, Olney Theater Center, and The National Players. His Film/TV credits include appearances in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Deadbeat,” and the web series “COHAB.”

In 2022, Bill founded the nonprofit site-specific theatre company, Sketchbook Theatre, Inc whose mission is to break conventional perceptions and expectations of what it means to experience live performance, while serving a wide range of communities. In 2023, he produced the inaugural season of Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at a townhouse space on the Upper West Side called, The Lethe Lounge and at Tydeman Farm in Germantown, New York.

In addition to Acting and Producing, Bill has emceed the 2013 Drama Desk Awards, Broadway in Bryant Park, and the Manhattan Theatre Club Gala. He has written and adapted plays and musicals, the book of his original musical “The Family Business” was selected as a Semi-Finalist for the National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Bill has taught Text and Musical Theatre at the LaGuardia High School for the performing Arts, where he has co-directed three shows. He has also taught acting and directed at Middlebury College. In addition to his classroom teaching work at LaGuardia, Bill also works with students as a private acting/audition coach.

Matthew Serra

August 29, 2015

Matthew Serra

Matthew Serra is a private tutor, former Spanish teacher, ethnomusicologist, audio engineer, and flamenco guitarist. Matthew currently resides in Sevilla, Spain, where he studies flamenco guitar at Artes Escénicas Rebollar, a premier flamenco academy. He holds a Master of Arts in Music from Durham University, from which he graduated with distinction, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Pittsburgh. Matthew also holds Bachelor’s degrees in Music and Spanish (summa cum laude, Allegheny College), and Music Technology (City College, CUNY). Matthew has carried out research projects on the relationship between flamenco performers’ identity and personal style, flamenco’s cultural/musical/literary heritage, and the effects of specific reinforcement schema on target language use and motivation in the foreign language classroom.

Matthew loves the opportunity to work directly with students of all ages and levels. He is enthusiastic about using the tutoring relationship as a medium for helping students to become the versions of themselves they most want to be. Matthew is experienced in teaching Spanish, English, executive function coaching (organizational and study skills), test preparation, creative writing, and even guitar, but he is also passionate about teaching math, science, language arts, and elementary education. Matthew has also worked with students on the autism spectrum as a therapeutic staff support and volunteered in a children’s grief support group. Matthew believes that learning can be fun, teaching should be engaging, and every subject has significance. He is an incredibly creative and engaging teacher who loves to teach through both traditional and immersive methods.

In his free time, Matthew enjoys studying flamenco, composing music, listening to psychology podcasts, reading in Spanish and French, and spending time outdoors.

Dorothy Nguyen

August 14, 2015

Dorothy Nguyen graduated from Rutgers University pre-med with a degree in American Studies and a minor in Music. She has been tutoring students and peers since her freshman year of high school—peer tutoring ESL high school students in a wide range of subjects and classical piano training for students in all ages. Now, the subjects she primarily tutors include high school chemistry, biology, and math, including Algebra, Algebra II, Geometry, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus. Dorothy also tutors elementary and middle school math topics. In addition to core academic math and science, she also tutors math and science for standardized tests, including the SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, CTP, SHSAT, TACHS, Hunter Entrance Exam, and AP Biology.

In addition to her academic coaching and test preparation work, Dorothy is an experienced executive function coach. She has helped children with attentional challenges and other learning disabilities to become more effective with study and organizational skills, including time management. She helps students work on their memory to retain information, mental flexibility to sustain concentration and reduce shifts in attention, and self-control so that they get in the habit of prioritizing their work and monitoring their own progress.

Dorothy’s teaching style is focused on connecting with students and making sure that they not only understand the material but also find the topics interesting. Dorothy believes that there are many equally valid ways to teach a student, and she tailors her lessons to the specific needs of each student. She encourages students to use outside resources to garner interest and deeper understanding of various subjects.

Dorothy is a comedian and writer. She has won multiple screenwriting contests with a half-hour comedy, a one-hour drama, and a dramedy short. When she’s not making people laugh, she can be caught listening to her favorite comedy/science podcasts.

Daphne Muller

August 6, 2015

Daphne Muller is a Private Tutor and professional writer specializing in writing coaching, academic enrichment, and test preparation, including ACT, SAT, ISEE, NY State test preparation, and SHSAT. She enjoys working with children of all ages and hones her pedagogical approach to each child’s specific needs. She believes in giving children the tools to take ownership of their education so that they can become self-sufficient, empowered learners.

Daphne is a writer who has written articles for Salon, The Huffington Post, ELLE online, Big Think, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. She holds an honors B.A. degree in English Literature from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a Master’s degree in Religion and Literature from Yale University.

In addition to tutoring and writing, she also works with private clients to develop corporate marketing kits, web content, and professional development materials. Currently, Daphne is publishing a novel, producing a short film, and optioning a screenplay.

Laurie Gross

July 20, 2015

Laurie Gross brings her expertise to My Learning Springboard as an Educational Consultant and Family Advocate, Reading Specialist, and Instructional Coach for families and schools in the New York City and Washington, DC metropolitan areas. Laurie is also a Professional Member of the Washington Independent Services for Educational Resources (WISER) and an adjunct professor at George Washington University, where she works with graduate teacher interns in a supervisory and mentorship role.

Laurie Gross’s School Leadership Background

Laurie is a highly experienced educator and school consultant with more than 40 years of experience in the Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) system and beyond. Early in her career, Laurie taught children with learning disabilities and emotional disturbances in grades 5-12, and was a special educator at the high school level. She then moved into administration as a special education supervisor, providing support and oversight to the special education programs in 25 (K-12) schools. Laurie spent the last 18 years of her school system career as an elementary school principal. With dual Master’s degrees in Reading (K-12) and Special Education (K-12), as well as Administrative Certification, Laurie has a unique perspective regarding student learning with regard to how best to deliver instruction to all students. Laurie has a special way of building trust with all stakeholders, and she views herself as a child advocate who places the needs of the child above all else. To that end, Laurie works collaboratively with families, schools, and private tutors to design differentiated educational programs for their student(s).

Prior to her retirement from Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, Laurie served as principal of Somerset Elementary School in Chevy Chase for nine years. Somerset Elementary School is one of the highest ranked schools in Montgomery County as well as in the state of Maryland. Under Laurie’s leadership, the student body grew from under 400 students to over 500 students, while maintaining an excellent instructional program that met the needs of its increasingly diverse student body.

Somerset provides an inclusive educational environment for all students in its attendance area. As a Home School Model school, all special education students are fully included in their grade level classrooms with support provided in a seamless manner using a co-teaching model as well as a pull-out model.

During her tenure in MCPS, Laurie worked collaboratively at the school, cluster and central level, building relationships that allowed her to secure resources for her students and school(s). As she said each year to an audience of parents at Back-to-School Night, “Being smart is not something that you are born with, it is something that can be learned and it is our responsibility to figure out what your children already know, what they need to learn, and what to do if they already know what we are teaching.” She will do the same for your children.

category: High School

Bill Army

Matthew Serra

Dorothy Nguyen

Daphne Muller

Laurie Gross

Laurie Gross’s School Leadership Background

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation