Sam is a nationally recognized public school teacher.   The U.S.   Congress, the Connecticut State Legislature, and statewide teacher organizations have recognized Sam for excellence in the field of education.

Harvard University asked Sam this summer to participate in a research project entitled, The College Access Collaborative.   After completing a nationwide search, Yale University's School of Management chose College Planning Partnerships as a company for its graduate students to partner with.

Sam writes a widely-read newspaper column that is entitled, College 101.   The veteran public schoolteacher is a recipient of the James Madison Fellowship, issued by the U.S.   Congress to one teacher annually in the state of Connecticut.   The Connecticut State Dept.   of Education asked Sam to help establish the standards for the statewide interdisciplinary CAPT test issued to tenth graders.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History chose Sam to participate in their Summer Seminar at Brown University.   He was selected as a fellow for the Amistad American Fellowship, done in conjunction with Yale University.

He is a recipient of the Connecticut Education Association's Presidential Award for Human and Civil Rights for directing a student effort that freed over 25 slaves in the Sudan.   Governor Rowland and the Connecticut Senate recognized Sam for organizing a student movement that led to the creation of 16 bills to stem student violence.

President Bill Clinton and U.S.   Senator Christopher Dodd recognized Sam and his students for influencing the Connecticut State Legislature on the Sheff vs.   O'Neill case.   He is a recipient of the Connecticut Celebration of Excellence Award.

Sam has written educational material for the New York Times Learning Network, Prentice Hall, Peregrine Publishers, and the Hartford Courant.   He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Boston University.   He was a newspaper reporter for The New York Post for 10 years, taught for five years at John Winthrop Jr.   High in Deep River, served as the executive editor for five Shoreline Newspapers, and was the academic director for an educational program started by Paul Newman.

When not tutoring or working on the next innovation to help students improve their SAT or ACT scores, Sam is often on his road bike or by the water with his wife of 21 years, Ann Louise Rosensohn.

Gary Burgard has been an educator for nearly fifty years.   After graduating from Yale in 1959, he taught high school English, worked as an assistant high school principal, became Principal of Wethersfield High School, and finished his school career as Assistant Superintendent of New London Schools.   More recently he has worked as a Special Education tutor at Waterford High School and as an SAT and LSAT tutor.   He joined College Planning Partnerships in 2004.

Gary and his wife Cathy, also a teacher but more recently a librarian, went through the parent side of college placement with their two sons Matthew (Georgetown) and Timothy (Bucknell).   Grandson Lucas and granddaughter Zoe now occupy center stage.

Gary, who was accepted at Harvard University but chose to go to Yale because of a better financial package, has an extraordinary intellect and knowledge base in all areas known to the SAT, the ACT and beyond.   When there's a question - whether it's about math or grammar or science - Gary is the guy we go to.   He has been instrumental in helping us to continually find more productive ways to reach our students and evaluate the productivity of our programs.

Kathryn Ryan
Kathryn graduated form Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in math from Georgetown University and went on to earn a masters degree in education at Harvard University.   After teaching high school math for ten years in Massachusetts and at the acclaimed Horace Mann School in The Bronx, she settled in Ivoryton, Conn., with her husband John where they are currently raising their three young children.   Kathryn brings intelligence, humor, insight, warmth and understanding to each and every tutorial.   When not tutoring students for the SAT or the ACT, Kathryn enjoys running and swimming, and in the summer can often be found with her family sailing on the Connecticut River.   She is tireless and gives her students everything she's got - and that's a lot.

Virginia “Gini” Nicholls

Gini Nicholls is a veritable dynamo.   This veteran public school teacher knows how to make a tutorial fun, instructive and brim with energy.   She helps students to find new ways to solve the math problems and to complete more work at a faster pace than they thought possible.   A Connecticut College graduate, Gini earned a Masters of Education from Vanderbilt University and a Sixth Year, Educational Leadership Degree from Southern Connecticut State University.   Since 2000, she has taught World History, UConn Economics and Civics at Shelton High School.   So why does she teach math for us? She teaches math because it's a love of hers that she happens to be magical at.

Suzanne de Jongh
Suzanne de Jongh tutors the verbal portions of the SAT and the ACT.   The former New Jersey high school teacher, who now lives in Ivoryton with her husband and two children, brings exceptional insight to the writing portion of the exam.   She worked as an on-line reader and scorer for the College Board.   A former newspaper reporter, Suzanne brings a love of language and an exceptional ability to inform to each tutorial.   She cares deeply about her students and is quick to show them how to remedy the problems they encounter.   She earned her BA from Keene State College in Journalism, and her teaching certificate from Southern Connecticut State University.   When not tutoring, she is busy with her children, ages 7 and 9, who are already receiving a modified version of SAT preparation! Suzanne also teaches Sunday School, volunteers in various organizations, and loves to run for exercise.

Zac Rosensohn
Zac is a junior year at Wesleyan University.   A football player, an English major, a lover of music, Zac continues to help us to find faster and more efficient ways to bring the lessons home to students.   Nearly all of our tutors are old enough to be our students' parents so it's essential that we gain a young person's perspective on how we instruct.   This summer Zac was instrumental in creating a PowerPoint Presentation for the math that allows us to cover more ground in math in each class.   Prior to this innovation there was not enough time to diagram every problem on the board.   Zac was also instrumental in helping create The Essay Clinic, a self-standing online essay program.   His sense of design and pace is impeccable.   While little is carved in stone, Zac is planning to join us full-time after he graduates from Wesleyan.   We hope he does because it seems to be a superior fit: he has always been interested in teaching and business.

Mike Kapernaros
Mike is a junior at Macalester College.   He took math classes at Wesleyan University when he was in elementary school.   He was ranked 15th in the nation in math in the tenth grade.   Despite having more math in his little pinky that most people have in their entire beings, Mike is a down-to-earth football player at Macalester, who also happens to be a champion scrabble player and a crazy goofball when he decides it's time for huge laughter.   He has worked with us - as Zac Rosensohn has - to help us provide the easiest and most straightforward forms of instruction for high school students.   He has come up with alternative ways to solve problems that many students immediately grasp.   He has helped us to develop curriculum, spot quizzes, and math assessments to determine if students learned enough Algebra I, Geometry or Algebra II in school to do well on the SAT.   Mike was originally a student here (he taught us a lot) and has worked with us for over three years.   When Mike speaks, we listen.

Ann Louise Rosensohn
Ann Louise, wife of founder Sam Rosensohn, is the chief financial officer.   No business decision is made without it going by Ann Louise.   She does the books, pays the bills and works to keep our fees and tuitions as low as possible.   We have not increased our fees or tuition in four years.   As a working mom, she understands how hard it is to keep up with rising prices in a down economy.   While Ann Louise is the glue and the special ingredient that keeps our enterprise smart, welcoming, cost efficient, she is a fine arts painter by profession.   A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Ann Louise shows her work locally.   Nearly all of the art on the walls in our office has been done by Ann Louise.   She is the mother of Zac, who also works in the business, and Trevor Rosensohn, a sophomore at Valley Regional HS in Deep River, Conn.