Westerly Learning Center Providing Academic Enrichment Programs for Homeschooled Students

Kim Torquato graduated with a BS degree in psychology from Syracuse University. She worked for several years at a Christian counseling agency in New York before returning to school to study computer programming. She received a postgraduate certification in computer programming and taught several classes in programming as a teaching assistant at North Carolina State University. While working on her master's degree in computer engineering, her first child was born. Mrs. Torquato and her family moved to Princeton in 1992 where her husband took a position as Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University. Their second child was born in 1993, just after Mrs. Torquato began teaching at Westerly Learning Center. She currently serves as the Director of WLC and is the science education coordinator.

Vanessa Fiori teaches Writing & Speech I at Westerly. She graduated with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Art History from the same university. While working in a computer start-up company during the hi-tech 1980's and 90's, Vanessa discovered she had a gift for explaining things. She won a national prize for best interactive educational software for "Export to Win" a program commissioned by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey to encourage small companies to export. In 1997, she also won The Technical Writers Institute first prize for her documentation of the company's flagship "Managing Your Money" product, which was also a joint venture with Money Magazine, a division of Time Inc.. Vanessa has also taught Sunday School for many years at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia where she has specialized in teaching the Old Testament to upper elementary school students. Since homeschooling her son, Vanessa has taken up a great interest in the process of education and is thrilled to be working with the talented team at Westerly.

Carol is a committed homeschooling mother of three daughters, which she has homeschoolded for the past 11 years. Carol also serves as PAHC Administrator, and was a member of the PAHC Board of Directors for three years. She has taught homeschool courses at the Lower Bucks Academy, sharing her love of learning via scrap booking skills and her love of science and history with other homeschooled children. Prior to homeschooling Carol worked for sixteen year s for the computer firm Digital Equipment Corporation, in Operations and Administration. This year Carol is teaching a World Geography class at Westerly Learning Center.

Lucy has undergraduate degrees from Princeton University in both Physics and Teaching, and is certified as a physics teacher by the State of New Jersey. She married John in 2006 and they settled down in Princeton and at Westerly Road Church. Lucy taught various levels of physics in addition to astronomy at Hopewell Valley Central High School. She was there for three years before taking leave to raise her daughter, born in the summer of 2010. A love for students and teaching has kept her tutoring and prompted her to take a job with Westerly Learning Center.

Patricia Melton earned her Magna Cum Laude Degrees in Art Therapy and Art Education from the College of New Jersey, and is certified by the State of New Jersey in Art Education - Preschool through grade 12. Ms. Melton has taught in public school, homeschool groups as well as workshops and private lessons. Patricia has two sons, has been a homeschooling mother for ten years. She enjoys the process of exploring art with her students by teaching them to expand their ability and creativity.

Mari-Anne Gordon teaches Beginning Writing with Excellence. After earning her B.A. in Journalism and Foreign Service (Baylor University, Waco, TX), she taught English in Europe then completed her M.A. in International Relations (American University, Washington, DC) with concentrations in European Studies and International Development with research in German political asylum and immigration policy. In the immediate wake of German reunification, she served bilingually for several years in international trade relations within the US Commerce Department in Frankfurt, Germany, including writing industry analysis papers, coordinating trade/diplomacy events, and directing an internship program. She later completed coursework in psychology, philosophy, theology, and linguistics, including training with Wycliffe Bible Translators, Toastmasters International, and Alpha USA. After launching and directing a university tutoring center in Texas, she moved to Seattle, where she directed one of the nation’s top-ranked private tutoring centers. In the summer of 2010, she and her husband Bruce, a university professor, moved to New Jersey, where they worship and volunteer at Westerly Road Church.

Marie-Paule Segal was born in Laval, France. She received a business degree from la Chambre de Commerce de Paris and ran her own company in France for 14 years. She and her husband moved to Princeton, NJ in 1994 where she worked extensively with several local corporations helping to train their personnel in French language skills. She also taught French as an Adjunct Professor at Rider University and gives private lessons in the French language. Mme. Segal is a certified instructor of the French National Curriculum at a Distance (CNED - Centre National d'Education a Distance).