MEET OUR TEACHERS

MrCheng earned a M.A. Teaching Secondary Education Mathematics from William Paterson University where he was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship and Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship. He also earned a M.S. in Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity, an Advanced Certificate in Digital Forensics for Computer Science and a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Mr Cheng is also a MIT Master Trainer in Educational Computing using the MIT App Inventor platform. He was twice elected as a Trustee for the West New York Board of Education and served on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey School Boards Association. He holds Teacher of Computer Science Technology and Teacher of Mathematics certificates and is currently pursuing a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership at William Paterson University.

Listen and send Matthew’s podcast episode with Alex from the Top of the Class podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1416160/8988402

Audrey Damon-Wynne is a College Board-certified AP instructor with over 20 years of high school teaching experience. She holds both a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Social Sciences, and her honors include both a Fulbright Fellowship as well as a Fulbright Distinguished Teaching award.

Her other accomplishments include being awarded a grant from the U.S. State Department to develop an international student exchange program, with the goals of promoting mutual cultural understanding and immersion. Over 5 years the program impacted more than 100 students and 25 teachers.  She also launched, developed, and led a Model U.N. program which grew over 20 years to an award-winning club with 75 students participating annually in as many as 4 international level conferences.

Listen and send Audrey’s podcast episode with Alex from the Top of the Class podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1416160/9063009 

Mariesa Cay is one of our AP Psychology teachers with a B.S. in Psychology from Princeton University. During her time in college, Ms. Cay spent a semester living in Copenhagen, Denmark and Krakow, Poland where she studied cross-cultural psychology. Ms. Cay currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts and conducts clinical psychology research at Boston Children's Hospital. She has been working with middle and high school students for over 8 years, including a summer teaching English in Tokyo, Japan through Toshin Global English Camp.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allegra-weinstein-84022126/

Brian Simpson is a 21 year Mathematics Educator integrating the practical applications of concepts with all theory and skills-based learning curriculums.  He holds a B.A. in Mathematics and an M.A. in Educational Leadership, graduating with Summa cum Laude honors.

Brian's passion for Mathematics and data science has led him to being licensed in securities and insurance while educating clients of their endless opportunities in investments and retirement planning. He is also AP College Board certified and has taught AP Calculus and AP Statistics for nearly ten years. "We strive for a five each and every day with a consistent approach and work ethic".

Listen and send Brian’s podcast episode with Alex from the Top of the Class podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1416160/9027209

Sara Palmer has been teaching in higher education for the past 10 years and currently teaches a variety of undergraduate psychology courses for Purdue University Global. She has extensive experience in the mental health field as a Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist, mediator, and clinical program manager.

She holds a B.S. in Psychology, M.S. in Educational Psychology, and will graduate in August 2021 with her Ph.D. in General Psychology - emphasis in Cognition and Instruction. She is a member of the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology. She also enjoys spending time with her family and friends, watching movies, and traveling to see the world.

Prahlad Panthi is a Computer Engineer who has a degree in Computer Science and Engineering. He has more than two years of experience teaching college students majoring major in Computer Science and Information Technology. He has taught computer programming to over 200 students of a college affiliated to London Metropolitan University. Additionally, he has been giving training to students on Android application development and backend systems development for the last three years.

Vince Nguyen is a certified educator by College Board, International Baccalaureate Organization, and three states in the U.S. to conduct math instruction to secondary students, including AP and IB classes. Vince has over 10 years of high school teaching experience.

Vince holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from UCLA and an M.B.A degree from Grand Canyon University. Throughout his teaching career, both in the U.S. and internationally, he has supported many students in reaching and achieving their goal of earning high scores on AP exams. In addition, Vince has led math competitions and AP Club sessions to aid and improve confidence of students preparing for exams and competition.

Finally, Vince has made significant, positive impacts on the school community through the creation and implementation of various, diverse student engagement projects. Vince’s mission in education is to lead and support students to be empowered to not only reach their short-term goals but also to realize their own long-term potential.

Nuwan Karunaratne is an experienced Physics teacher who holds a B.Sc. (1st class honors) and a Ph.D. both in Physics. Nuwan has taught Physics at university, community college and high school levels for more than 15 years.  He is extremely passionate about teaching Physics and an active user of online tools to provide a better learning experience for his students.

He is currently teaching high school Physics and Computer Science at a reputed charter school in Texas. Furthermore, Nuwan is interested in college counseling and career guidance to help students achieve their lifelong objectives.

Matthew Barnette has 15+ years experience teaching at the college/university level. He possesses a B.A and M.A in history. His main area of expertise is military history, British Empire, and post-war decolonization of European empires. His academic background includes teaching courses in American, European and world history.

In addition, he has taught specialized history topics including: sports history in the US, US diplomatic history, war and society, World War II, exploration and discovery and Greek history. He has experience in hybrid/online curriculum design and has successfully developed two courses: The Age of Exploration and Discovery and the History of World War II.

He presented a paper in 2005 at the Phi Alpha Theta Pacific Northwest Regional Conference Sun Valley, Idaho: Military Myths and Realities of the American War, 1775-1783. He’s a member of The Society of Military History and De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History.

Kathy Meyer is from central Missouri, United States. She has served as a public and state secondary science teacher for 34 years. Kathy's major is Secondary Biology with a minor in American Sign Language. Throughout the years, she has taught most secondary science classes such as: AP Biology, Biology, Advanced Biology, Anatomy/Physiology, Ecology, Physical Science, Applied Biology/Chemistry, etc. The majority of the videoed farm lessons used with this course are filmed on her farm.

Colin Mulligan is CGA’s AP Microeconomics teacher, a Multimedia Curriculum Specialist, a Documentarian & Writer based in Los Angeles. Colin is an educator and administrator with over sixteen years' prior experience. He was Vice-Principal & History Dept. Chair at The Smith School in Manhattan where he also taught History, Economics and Music. Colin is also a former instructor of History and Social Sciences at St. Louis Community College, a three-year tenure where his other duties included crafting college-level curricula and teaching Writing & English.