• Manny Norse

  

  The Principal of Willamette Valley Academy.

  Manuel Norse has been teaching mathematics at the middle and high school level since 1986, covering all levels from basic math to calculus. He holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics from Johnson State College and an M.S. degree in Curriculum & Instruction from Portland State University.(He was also the District Math Specialist for the Beaverton School District for three years.)

  For the past 25 years, he has tutored both individuals and groups in competitive math, focussing on MathCounts & the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML). He has had numerous students reach the national level of Mathcounts and has been the state coach five times. He is also involved with the American Math Contest (AMC) & the American Invitational Math Exam (AIME). In addition, he has been awarded the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished Mathematics Teaching and the Samuel L Greitzer Distinguished Coach Award.

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - AMC Competition Event: AMC 10A

  - AMC Competition Event: AMC 10B

  - AMC Competition Event: AMC 12A

  - AMC Competition Event: AMC 12B

  - AoPS Geometry A (Grade 7-9)

• Purushottam Goel

  

  The Board Member of Willamette Valley Academy.

  Purushottam Goel is a principal engineer and computer architect at Intel. He holds a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Roorkee and a masters degree in Computer Science from BITS Pilani - both in India.

  He has a passion for teaching in general, and especially for teaching physics. He taught physics to his homeschooled sons upto USAPhO (USA Physics Olympiad) level. Both his sons have competed at USAPhO level for many years, and one of them (Gopal K. Goel) went on to win a gold medal at the IPhO (International Physics Olympiad) in 2018.

  Purushottam would love to share his knowledge of physics with younger kids.

  
  

• Andrew Sturm

  Andrew Sturm holds B.A in Physics and Master of Arts in Teaching in Science Education - Physics. Mr. Sturm has been teaching grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 with courses from Earth and Space Sciences, Astronomy, College Prep, AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C for 5 years in high school.
  

• Joanne Rees

  

  Joanne Rees is an educator with more than 25 years of experience working with students in and out of the classroom.  She has spent the past 17 years teaching math in the Beaverton School District, with the last 14 years teaching higher maths within the Summa program.  She spent three years with the Oregon Mathematics Leadership Institute doing graduate-level work.  She holds a BME from Alverno College.

  Class will be a place where students are challenged to explore problems, make conjectures, and generalize ideas to create meaningful problem-solving strategies that will develop into lifetime skills.

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - Math: Algebra 2, PreCaluclus, AGS I, II or III, SAT Math by Mrs. Rees

• Connor Nelson

  

  Connor Nelson is a Beaverton High School graduate and received his master’s degree from Pacific University, specializing in STEM and ELL.  He has worked for the past 10 years as a math tutor and teacher. As a teacher, he has worked in a variety of settings from grade 6 through high school and is currently teaching advanced math for the Beaverton School District.

  Mr. Nelson works to create a classroom environment in which students feel challenged and supported.  He regularly integrates curricula materials with high-ceiling problem-solving tasks and activities. He coaches students on how to cope with difficult tasks, constructively deliver and accept feedback, and maintain a growth mindset. 

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - AGS 1A: Algebra part

  - F3: Algebra 1 B - AGS 2-A: Algebra part

  - F3: Algebra I-A - AGS I-A: Algebra part

  - Math: Algebra 2, PreCaluclus, AGS I, II or III, SAT Math by Mrs. Rees

  - Math: PreAlgebra, Algebra 1 or 2, Geometry, AGS I, II or III by Mr. Nelson

• Angela Norse

  

  Angela Norse has a B.S. Degree in Business from Oregon State University and a M.A.T in Teaching from George Fox University. She started her teaching career in 2002. For 11 years, she taught pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry. For 5 years, she was a MathCounts coach and facilitated the American Math Competition(AMC) and Pentagames. She also participated in problem-solving data collection & research analysis for Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), Instructional Materials Evaluation for Mathematics for the Oregon Department of Education, and problem-solving scoring for the State of Oregon.

  After leaving the Beaverton School District, she has been working with elementary students in the Salem-Kaiser School District. Her goal in joining Sunshine Elite is to help younger students start building a foundation of competitive math skills.

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - AoPS PreAlgebra A (Grade 5-7)

  - Beast Academy Math Level 2AB- Grade 2-3

  - Beast Academy Math Level 3AB - Grade 3-4

  - Beast Academy Math Level 4AB- Grade 4-5

  - Beast Academy Math Level 5AB - Grade 5-6

• Drew Liu

  
  

• Leah Hoff

  
  Leah Hoff received her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Seattle University, with additional coursework in software engineering.  She went on to study accounting and is currently working toward her CPA licensure.  

  
  Leah is a licensed K-8 general education teacher, with middle & secondary math endorsements. She has many years of experience teaching mathematics, including K-8, pre-algebra, advanced algebra, geometry, algebra II, pre-calculus, probability and statistics.  She has functioned as head of the math intervention program at a private school, while also teaching special education and gifted & talented mathematics courses.

  She also provides private math and ELA tutoring for several students ranging from 3rd grade through college.

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - Math from Singapore Math K-5 to PreAlgebra, Algebra 1 by Mrs. Hoff

• Jennifer Rose

  

  Jennifer is a professional writer with more than 20 years' experience in education. Her publishing credits include language arts, social studies, and science elementary textbooks, and she has expert knowledge of the standards by which students are tested. She has classroom experience teaching creative writing, college preparatory writing, and ELL. She received her Master of Arts in Creative Writing from New York University.

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - Level 1A: Strength-Focused Writing Workshop + Grammar - Grade K/1

  - Level 2/3A: Strength-Focused Writing Workshop + Grammar - Grade 2/3

  - Level 4A: Strength-Focused Writing Workshop + Grammar - Grade 4-5

  - Level 5A: Strength-Focused Writing Workshop + Grammar - Grade 5-6

  - Level 6/7A: Strength-Focused Writing Workshop + Grammar - Grade 6-7

  - Level 7/8A: Strength-Focused Writing Workshop + Grammar - Grade 7-8

  - Writing Skills for k-8; Writing for publish by Mrs. Rose

  - Writing Skills for k-8; Writing for publish or competition by Mrs Rose

• Brenda Andrus

  Brenda graduated with a Masters Degree in English from BYU. She taught Freshman English during grad school and tutored in the BYU Writing Center during undergraduate studies. She has tutored students reading, writing for over twenty years. She ran Battle of the Books and Book Club at her children's elementary school for many years. She is also proficient at research writing, textual analysis, and personal narrative writing.

  She has helped many students prepare for college entrance tests and draft their admissions essays. For both the SAT and ACT she specializes in the English and Reading sections, as well as the essays.

  She would like all students to improve with practice and knowledge of basic strategies. She doesn't believe in the fixed mind-set of "I am a bad test taker" or "I am a bad writer." She encourages students to adopt the mind-set of constant improvement through dedication and practice: "I am still learning."

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - SSAT, PSAT, SAT, ACT Reading/Writing Test Prep

• Tami Bake

  Tami Bake holds a Secondary Education Certification and has more than 20 years teaching and tutoring experience with different ages group of students. 

  Tami has been teaching for Reading, ITBS Reading and CogAt test preparation for SUMMA about 5 years at Sunshine Elite Education. She is also specialized in teaching English reading/writing, college readiness/Advanced Placement writing and ACT/SAT test preparation.

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - CogAt, Reading, Vocabulary, and Writing Test Prep by Mrs. Bake

  - SUMMA: Math, Reading and CogAt Test Prep for K-8 by Harry

• Julie Hlad

  

  Julie has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside, and over 10 years of experience helping students succeed in English. She has taught English Literature at the high school and college levels and loves to help students understand literature. She also taught writing in both high school and college and has great methods that help students improve quickly and become confident writers.

  She likes to make learning fun, and her methods of teaching writing are particularly effective.  She helps students with their essays for lots of classes from middle school through grad school but especially English, AP History, AP Art History, Humanities, and Philosophy.

  She finds helping students improve their SAT and ACT scores and write winning college entrance essays very rewarding. The materials she uses for improving reading, vocabulary, and grammar skills work quickly to improve scores, and she has some great success stories.

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - Essay Writing + Grammar II-A - Grade 10-12

  - Essay Writing, SSAT, PSAT, SAT Reading/Writing by Mrs. Hlad

  - Literary Reading & Analytical Writing II-A - Grade 4-6

  - Literary Reading and Analytical Writing III-A - Grade 6-9

  - SAT Test Prep Intensive Package: Reading/Writing

  - SSAT, PSAT, SAT, ACT Reading/Writing Test Prep

  - SSAT/HSPT Test Prep: Vocabulary/Reading for Grade 7-8A

• Debby Dodds

  

  Debby Dodds has been teaching Standardized Test Prep strategies for over 20 years. She began her career working for the largest test prep company in Southern California in the 1990s: Ivy West. She tutors for both the ACT and the SAT, all sections, as well as for the SSAT, ISEE, HSPT, APs, SAT 2s, GMAT and GRE. When Sylvan Learning Centers acquired Ivy West, Debby was flown all over the country for a year to facilitate tutor training sessions. She has also done Research & Development for many other test prep companies, creating study materials, and spiralling tests. She taught test prep courses in over 25 different Los Angeles Unified Schools.

  She is also a professional author and teaches Creative Writing classes in many Portland venues. Currently, she teaches summer courses at Catlin Gabel and works with students in the Teaching and Learning Center on campus year-round. She runs a popular test prep course for both the SAT and ACT at Riverdale HS. She also works with a few private clients for academic tutoring, writing skills, Test Prep, and college application guidance. She received her BFA from NYU and her MFA from Antioch University.
  
  Debby Dodds has taught creative writing classes for Newport, Oregon's Writers on the Edge (summer 2015), Willamette Writers Conference (2015 and 2016), Catlin Gabel (11 years), Antioch University, The Empty Stage and The Fulton Opera House. She's the author of the soon-to- be-released novel Amish Guys Don't Call (Blue Moon Publishers, spring 2017) and has stories in many anthologies including My Little Red Book (Twelve) and SheWrites. “My Mom and The Dead”, a story about taking my mom to a Grateful Dead concert, appears in the anthology series Thin Threads. She was interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning on 4/21/13 for a piece featured in the Amazon and Barnes and Nobel bestselling, Things That You Would Have Said (Penguin, 2012). Aregular contributor and was the Fiction Editor to The Living Dead magazine, she's also been published in The Sun, Portland Family Magazine, FlashesintheDark.com, Stumptown Underground, The Crimson Crane, Zinkzine.com, and twice in Hip Mama. Ahumor essay was editor's pick on Salon.com and another appeared April 2016 on xoJane.

  
  

• Randall Martinez

  Mr. Martinez holds an M.A. in Communication Studies. He is a professional speech/debate coach for more than 10 years, coaching the public speech and debate for middle school, high school, and college students.

  Mr. Martinez also has a lot of experience coaching and lead the high school competitive debate team. He has resurrected a dormant debate team to national prominence in Lincoln-Douglas, Policy Debate, Public Forum, and Student Congressional Debate. He coached students to win the Harvard, Emory, Glen brooks, University of Florida, and tournament of champions.

  
  

• Ta-Leah Smithers

  Ta-Leah has a strong passion for education and holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Asian Studies/Japanese as well as certification in Asian Business and Society from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After completing her undergraduate degree, she obtained ESL certification and moved to South Korea where she taught English to pre-school aged students all the way up to adult learners.  Ta-Leah went on to complete her MBA with a concentration in International Business from Florida Institute of Technology. She is a active member of ToastMaster for many years and love to teach speech and debate.

  In her free-time, Ta-Leah enjoys continual self-development and growth through reading, meditation, and exercise. She is happy to be on the team and looks forward to making amazing connections! 

  
  

• Julie Weindel

  
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - Public Speech/Debate III - Grade 5-7

• Elizabeth Lawry

  

  Elizabeth Lawry received her M.A. from the University of Oregon in Communication Disorders and Sciences in June 2020. Although she is not practicing as a speech-language pathologist at Sunshine, she is a language and communication specialist with a particular interest in developing the public speaking and discourse skills of her students. She has more than 5 years of teaching experience and was a competitive Toastmaster in South Korea where she taught English for two years. Her goal is to help students express themselves and their ideas as effectively as possible while teaching stress-management strategies before, during, and after a speech.

  
  

• Jeffrey Chan

  Jefferey Chan holds a Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Data Science with Honor and Scholarship from University of California, Santa Barbara. His PHD research is focusing on Machine Learning, Data Science, Markov Chain, Monte Carlo, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, Stochastic Process, Applied Machine Learning / Data Science in Finance, Hyperdimensional Data Analysis, Deep Learning, and Financial Modeling.
  
  Beyond his research work, Jerrerey has been enjoying teaching computer science classes for young student for a few years from computer programming, Date structure and Algorithms etc.
  

• Shilpa Sharma

  Shilpa Sharma holds a Master degree in Computer Science and have many years of experience as a computer programing teacher for different age of students. She is joining Sunshine Elite and WVA faculty team in Summer, 2022.
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - ACSL Computer Contest Training - Elementary Division (Gr4-6)

  - CogAT Test Prep for 5th Grade

  - Math Level 1-A (Grade K-1)

  - Math Level 1-B - ITBS/OSA Math Grade 1->2

  - Python Programming I: Beginner B - Grade 5-7

  - Python Programming II: Junior A - Grade 6-9

  - Sunshine Volunteer Application

• Scott Martin

  Understanding science concepts gets you where you want to go! In my life this includes experiences like becoming a pilot, scuba diver, and cave explorer. Science understandings are also necessary to get into your choice college and started in many desirable careers. I enjoy helping students connect with real world examples as they prepare for the next step in their education.

  My teaching career has allowed me the chance to teach in some of the worlds best schools. I have 20 years of teaching experience in schools in South America, Japan, and the USA. I teach MS science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and AP Biology. I have a Masters from Wheaton College and a Biology degree from Taylor University.

  I enjoy explaining a concept and then having students apply it to real world situations. My students always do well on tests because they have a through understanding of the topic

  
  

• Zhenjing Zhang

  
  

• Pamela Robinson

  

  Pamela graduated in 1993 from George Fox University with a degree in elementary education and an endorsement in mathematics.  She was a middle school math teacher for 8 years teaching general math, beginning pre-algebra, advanced pre-algebra, and algebra to seventh and eighth-graders in the Hillsboro School District.

  Pamela was doing tutoring and substitute teaching since 2002 in BSD. She recently is substituting at Stoller Middle School for eighth-grade math and starting to teach at Sunshine in 2020 Summer.

  
  

• Craig Kaercher

  Craig Kaercher holds a B.A. in Computer Science and he has more than 15 years of teaching computer programming experience as the adjunct faculty in universities. 
  Course(s) to teach:
  

  - Computer Programming Tutoring - Python, C++, Java and AP Computer Science A by Mr. Kaercher

• Charles Schulien

  

  Mr. Charles Schulien is FIDE international Chess master and he is a professional Chess coach for more than 20 years.

  Mr. Schulien coached many students who are Champions in the State Chess tournaments. He coaches the competitive Chess teams, teaching Chess in different schools like OES, and he also offers private lessons to students at Bethany area.

  
  

• Tie Li

  Li Tie was born in 1964 in Beijing. He holds the Master of Fine Arts degree. He is proficient in all kinds of Chinese and Western painting materials including oil paintings, drawings, prints, Chinese paintings, watercolors, acrylics, sculptures, etc. Li Tie held many personal exhibitions and group exhibitions at the galleries and museums in U.S. He has a high artistic attainment.

  In art education, Li Tie advocates attaching importance to student's personality and characteristics of various age groups. He cultivates students' interests and hobbies in the art in a variety and open manner and improves students' overall artistic quality. In terms of methods, he advocates more guidance than indoctrination and gives more encouragement to help them build their self-confidence. His art studio inspires children's own characteristics and creativity and improves their ability to express themselves through hands-on activities.

  Here is LiTie's professional website: http://www.litiefineart.com

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• Ellen Zhou

  Ellen is the founder of Sunshine Elite Education. She majored in Computer Sciences. After 10 years of working in the high-tech industry, Ellen decided to devote herself to education and aims to build a creative educational environment to help students to reach their full potential, to go above and beyond.

  
  

Young Instructors

• Gopal Goel

  

  Gopal K. Goel is a freshman at MIT from Portland, OR.

  Gopal was on the 2020 USA IMO team, where he earned a silver medal, and was on the 2018 USA IPhO team, where he earned a gold medal. He also is a two time USAMO winner, and a three time USAPhO gold medalist. Gopal was an STS finalist in 2021, where he earned the 4th place award. He also has several publications in peer-reviewed math and physics journals.

  Gopal has also tutored math for over three years at the AIME and USAMO level, as well as physics at the USAPhO level.

  
  

• Noah Walsh

  Noah Walsh is currently studying in Mathmatics department of MIT. 

  Noah got the Internatioanl Math Olympiad (IMO) gold medal in 2021. He is passonate to teach math classes to lead more students to achieve high in the math contests.

  
  

• Ram Goel

  

  Ram Goel is a high school junior from Portland, OR. He enjoys teaching, and has tutored math for over 3 years at the AMC and AIME level, both privately and at the Pacific Math Association. He also is the leader of the Oregon Harvard-MIT Math Tournament (HMMT) Team.

  Ram qualified for MathCounts Nationals in 2019, and placed in the top 12, participating in the Countdown Round. He has also qualified for the USA(J)MO in 2019, 2020, and 2021 earning an Honorable Mention on USAJMO in 2020, and qualifying for the Math Olympiad Program (MOP) in 2021. Outside of competition math, Ram conducts mathematics research through the MIT PRIMES-USA program.

  
  

• Anay Aggarwal

  Anay Aggarwal is a AIME qualifier and one of State MathCounts Winners. Anay is passoniate at math and tutoring Grade 4-9 students math and physics.

  
  

• Andrew Su

  Andrew Su is one of State Mathcounts Winners. He has been tutoring math from Math Olympiad for Elementary, PreAlgebra, Algebra, and up to Algebra 2 since COVID. Andrew is passionate about Math and tutoring math for Grade 4-9 students.