The Leadership Team

Tara Higgins

Founder & Chief Relationship Officer

Tara has a firm belief that appreciating individuality is paramount to working with students. With over 27 years of experience as an educator, school administrator, and counselor, she has learned to navigate the tricky landscape of preparing for college admissions and helping families do the same. It is important to her to provide students with honest and realistic advice while also helping them push to realize their potential.

Sam Bellows

Chief Executive Officer & Head Tutor

It took just a little over a month of tutoring before Sam discovered he had a passion for helping students. Starting at a big box tutoring company, he began searching for ways to improve upon mainstream prep techniques and would go on to develop a unique methodology for approaching the tests. Years later, and now with his own company, that spirit of continual improvement characterizes the Franklin Yard philosophy.

Josh Druhan

Chief Operating & Finance Officer

Josh grew up with a predilection for puzzles, so was one of those rare teens who not only excelled on standardized tests but enjoyed them. As with puzzles, he found that the hidden patterns and pathways in standardized test questions were most fun to explore with others. This impulse would lead Josh to develop the curiosity-driven approach to teaching that made him a sought-after tutor, test expert, and eventually inspired him to co-found Franklin Yard.

Our Tutors

Bill Rubin

Following a diverse career in business, law, and government, Bill began tutoring in 2007 to pursue his lifelong desire to teach. He quickly became one of the most sought-after tutors in the Philadelphia area, among both public and private school students. Along with the SAT and ACT, Bill offers academic and AP support in English Language and Literature, American, European, and World History, Political and Social Science, and Mathematics.

Joohyun Kim

With more than 15 years in the field, Joohyun's extensive experience tutoring students of all ages and backgrounds has afforded her great versatility in teaching, as well as skill in engaging students according to their given abilities. In addition to boasting an SAT score in the top 0.25% in her state and earning the National Merit Scholar designation, Joohyun has also shown her art in galleries in Florida and Philadelphia, composed music for the Sarasota Orchestra, and published her poetry with Birds of Lace publishing.

Patty Zaradic

Patience, a sense of humor, and joy in seeing the “aha” moment in students’ eyes have made Patty a successful tutor across various test preps and disciplines. Patty holds a doctorate in biology from the University of Pennsylvania, spent a decade as a conservation researcher, is currently a science teacher, and considers unlocking students' potential her favorite avocation. With over two decades of tutoring experience and a decade of SAT/ACT and AP Bio test prep experience, Patty helps students build confidence and meet their academic goals.

Josh Woratyla

For the past four years, Josh has been using the knowledge gained from his dual degree in Philosophy and Psychology to provide SAT/ACT prep that is both personalized and engaging. He strives to open his students’ eyes to the beauty that lies within the logic of language and mathematics, providing a unique and holistic educational experience. When he is not tutoring, Josh works as a musician and producer, composing original music and performing with his band in and around the Philadelphia area.

Trevor Yeckley

With over 5 years of experience teaching and tutoring, Trevor has developed a diverse skillset which allows him to effectively reach students across academic disciplines. While his recent focus has been on perfecting his SAT/ACT tutoring methods, Trevor enjoys tutoring a wide range of subjects, including several AP courses, upper-level mathematics and French. Trevor’s approach is guided foremost by the principle that the student’s confidence is key to a successful and stress-free test taking experience. To that end, he utilizes his sense of humor, recent college experience and genuine passion for learning to engage students in a way that speaks to their individual needs.

Corey Joseph Gumbert

Since finishing at the University of Virginia in 2015 as a Boren and Critical Language Scholar, Joseph has helped thousands of students grow in self-confidence and inner-strength in the pursuit of ambitious testing goals. Because not every student learns the same way, he’s often gone off-script, utilizing the best tools gained from working at two major test prep companies, to craft individualized solutions to students’ particular needs. This adaptability has allowed him to work effectively with students of all starting levels, with dozens even attaining top 1% scores like his.

McKenzie Davis

McKenzie comes to us with a wealth of instructional experience, having tutored students of diverse ages and backgrounds for the last 6 years. As both an exceptional test taker, boasting a 99th percentile SAT score, and a natural educator, she has developed a passion for helping students navigate college admissions testing. McKenzie currently studies bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and commits her spare time to organizations dedicated to enhancing the student admissions and post-admissions experience, uniquely positioning her to guide and support university-bound students.

Rex Moon

For over a decade, Rex has fostered an enthusiastic commitment to sharing his love of test-taking with his students. As a former SAT perfect scorer, Harvard Alumni Interviewer and Educational Consultant who regularly impugns the usage of Oxford commas, Rex has had the privilege of both working with and learning from truly inspiring, passionate students, professionals and instructors, all of whom share a common, unshakable commitment not only to the realization of their students’ goals but also to the promotion of their successful futures.

Erin Busk-Sutton

Erin started in test prep in 2009 and has experience teaching and tutoring ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning, elementary enrichment, and high school Spanish. In her six years at the Princeton Review, Erin taught partnership classes with multiple high schools and universities, including UM Ann Arbor, and was an SAT Master Trainer providing mentorship to new teachers and tutors. She also holds an Education/Spanish dual bachelor's and a master of arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Erin has helped thousands of students improve scores and attend the college of their choice by building from their strengths and reducing test anxiety. She is proudest of her work with Detroit United Way and Dollars for Scholars assisting underserved college applicants to access quality postsecondary education.

Aja Brady-Saalfeld

With over a decade of experience in the field, Aja credits her lifelong love of learning with her success in the field of tutoring and academic support, including helping multiple students achieve perfect scores. Aja holds a BA in German from Vassar College, where she worked as a student instructor for the German department before moving into test prep after graduation. When it comes to test prep, Aja focuses on the ACT, SAT, GRE, and LSAT, and she maintains that tutoring should make the application process easier, not harder, making sure to meet each student where they are. In addition to test prep, Aja tutors a wide variety of academic subjects with a particular focus on STEM and German.

Valerie Bosman

Valerie began ‘playing SAT’ as a 6th grader in Scarsdale, NY. She fell in love with test prep while earning her MFA at Columbia University. Known for keeping even the most anxious students calm, Valerie builds relationships so that she can personalize the content delivery. With over 30 years of experience, including her time working as a Princeton Review Master tutor and as a founding director of the tutoring center at an elite, independent day school in Miami, Valerie has helped countless students achieve admission to their dream schools, including MIT, Dartmouth, Georgetown, and Columbia.

Daniel Lee

With more than 7 years in the field, Daniel has been successfully tutoring students of all backgrounds and customizes each SAT/ACT tutoring journey to each student. Daniel firmly believes that having fun is key to improving a student's SAT/ACT score and subsequently will incorporate "dad jokes" and fun anecdotes in his sessions. Daniel is a 99th percentile scorer on the SAT and scored a 36 on the ACT. He is now embarking on his own test prep journey by preparing for the GMAT. His hobbies include fishing, video gaming, exploring new restaurants, and going on adventures with his wife and dog.

Ryan Witt

Ryan has a BSc in secondary education and a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He has worked as a test preparation expert for the last 14 years, traveling as far as Saudi Arabia to conduct test preparation seminars. Ryan has a proven track record of helping students increase their scores on standardized tests, including the ACT, SAT, GRE, and LSAT. He has assisted scores of students in obtaining results in the top 99th percentile of these tests, which ultimately helped these students gain admission to Yale, MIT, NYU, Harvard, Columbia, Rice, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, and Stanford, among others.

Prathinav Vishnu

With more than three years of test prep tutoring experience, Prathinav knows how to best tailor instruction for maximum improvement. As both a perfect ACT scorer and knowledgeable tutor, he understands the work it takes and diligently studies standardized tests to keep updated on important developments. Prathinav will graduate from the University of Pennsylvania in Fall 2024 with a major in Economics and a double minor in Statistics and Cognitive Science.

Ami Cheung

Ami graduated from UC Berkley with a major in Political Science and a minor in Public Policy. For over a decade, she has tutored full-time, working with hundreds of students to achieve their goal score on their SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, and AP exams. She has helped students achieve as high as 1600 on the SAT, 36 on the ACT, within the 9th stanine of the SSAT, and 5's on AP Lit/Lang, and her students who struggled with reading comprehension have commented that her expertise and passion pushed them to analyze the text beyond the ways they were taught in school. However, out of everything, she's most proud of how her students say they feel her presence while taking their official test, hearing her voice in their heads repeating strategies!

Andrew Siegele

Andrew is a lively guide, educator and communicator. He has over a decade of experience teaching and tutoring physics, math, chess and yoga. His patient and focused demeanor helps students work through difficult subjects with ease. Andrew holds a bachelor's degree in physics, advanced yoga teaching certifications and is a nationally ranked chess player. You can often find him with his wife and three children hiking, biking, swimming in the creek or playing sports.

Rafi Ettinger-Finley

With eight years of tutoring experience in various settings, Rafi has made it his goal to share his love of physics with every student he tutors. He has helped students gain an intuitive understanding of the subject that enables them to reach their full potential, both throughout the academic year and on test day. Rafi recently graduated from Vassar College with a BA in physics and music and works for Cedar Crest College’s NASA TOWERS program as a Graduate Assistant.

Phyllis Hanson

Phyllis taught AP Chemistry and various Algebra/PreCalc courses at a college preparatory school outside Philadelphia for 26 years. Prior to that, she taught Chemistry and Environmental Science at 2 local colleges. She has led many students through the rigors of chemistry and math, and has experience with many different learning styles and challenges. Phyllis will design lessons with the individual student's skill set and abilities in mind, and provide a calm and positive working environment.

Franklin Yard was born from a love of teaching.