MEET THE TEAM

BRAYDEN MI

Tutor

Brayden is a class of 2023 student at St. John's School. He is part of the school Science Olympiad team for which he has received medals and ribbons in numerous statewide competitions. He has been studying Chinese for 9 years and Spanish for 4 years. He plays both the Piano and the Saxophone and has received merits and distinction on ABRSM music and music theory tests. Brayden's favorite subjects are Math, Language (Chinese and Spanish), Science, and Engineering.

AMIRA STOCKS

Tutor

Amira is a class of 2023 student at St. John’s School in Houston, TX. She is interested in STEM and medicine. She currently is working with WalkStrong Africa and Project CURE to increase medical access in underserved countries. She gets involved in her community through her work with St. John’s Community Service and as vice president of the Middle Eastern, North African affinity group. Amira also plays on both the varsity volleyball and varsity softball teams. Her favorite subject to tutor is math, but she is also willing to tutor almost all middle school subjects.

DIYA KODGIRE

Tutor

Diya is a class of 2024 student at St. John's School in Houston, TX. She is passionate about community service, and won an award for her number of hours. Diya has taught kids from the ages of 4-9 at Five Star Tutoring for a year, she also has a younger sister that she tutors quite often, giving her some experience in working with kids. Her subject of expertise is math, though she can help in other areas as well. Outside of school, Diya enjoys participating in dance and likes reading in her free time.

LUCY JANSSENS

Tutor

Lucy is a 2025 student at St. John’s School in Houston, TX.  She is passionate about math and Spanish and earned the St. John’s Scholar award for the 2020-2021 school year.  Lucy has played the piano and the violin since she was in kindergarten, and started playing the saxophone in fifth grade.  She plays the violin in the school orchestra and the saxophone in the school band.  She also plays lacrosse at school and for a club team.  Lucy received Grand Recognition from the Duke Talent Identification Program’s Seventh Grade Talent Search, which recognizes 7th-grade students that score above the 90th percentile on the ACT or SAT when compared to college-bound high school students.  She would love to teach elementary and middle school math, science, English, and Spanish.

SHREYES BALACHANDRAN

Tutor

Shreyes is a class of 2024 student at St. John's School in Houston, TX. He believes that access to knowledge should be universal and is one of the most important methods to achieve self-empowerment. To this end, he has taught students through the Breakthrough Houston program. His favorite subjects include math, science, and history, which he further pursues through participation in his school's nationally-competitive quiz bowl team. Outside of academic pursuits, he enjoys singing and listening to history podcasts.

MARY HO

Tutor

Mary is a rising sophomore at St. John’s School in her hometown, Houston, TX. She has tutored several students in the past and strives to create a strong sense of connection and understanding between the tutee and herself. She excels at elementary and middle school math and English, but she also loves teaching elementary Spanish. As a community service officer at her school, she promotes the idea of giving back in any way one can. Mary also participates in year-round soccer and plays the violin in the school orchestra.

ELIZABETH REED

Tutor

Elizabeth is in the class of 2023 at St. John’s. She is very passionate about science, history, and Spanish. Apart from academics, Elizabeth enjoys participating in cross country, swimming, track, dance, Model UN, and various other clubs. Additionally, she absolutely loves to tutor elementary and middle school kids and in the past has tutored and worked with kids and adults from the Nehemiah Center, Soul Bilingue, Summer Express, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Her goal for tutoring is to help kids learn and understand new content while having fun,as learning should be!!

KRISTEN LEE

Tutor

Kristen is a class of 2025 student at St. John's School in Houston, TX. She has a special interest in math, reading, English, and Spanish, and can also help with preparation for the ISEE. Kristen is involved with various school community activities, such as being a part of the cheer, field hockey, and tennis teams. She loves all visual and performing arts, having done dance for 11 years, 8 of which at the Houston Ballet, and playing both the piano and cello for 7 years. Kristen has worked with students of many different ages and is open to teaching various subjects.

SERINA YAN

Tutor

Serina is a class of 2025 student at St. John's School in Houston, TX. She is passionate about English, math, and visual arts, earning Scholastic Gold Keys for both art and writing in 2021. As a student council officer, Serina is an active member of the school community. In addition, due to her strong work ethic and love of learning, Serina consistently earns high grades, previously receiving her grade's scholar award. Specializing in math and writing, Serina wants to help you excel, and can't wait to work with you! Outside of the classroom, she enjoys playing tennis and piano, as well as reading and drawing.

JENNIFER LIU

Tutor

Jennifer Liu is a class of 2025 student at St. John's School in Houston, TX. She is experienced in both writing and the fine arts. In writing, Jennifer won a regional Scholastic Writing Silver Key in 2021 and is particularly adept at writing analyses of literary works and understanding literary devices. In the fine arts, Jennifer has played violin and piano for seven years and has taken art classes for five. She has placed first overall in the TMEA regional competition for violin for two consecutive years and has performed on various stages. Jennifer would love to provide help to students in search of finding their own voice, giving them the necessary techniques that will allow them to better express their stories and identity.

LORE LANIYAN