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 Officer & Head of Finance

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. And he found that, as with puzzles, 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 5 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.

Chloe Leech

Chloe is a passionate and dedicated educator who comes to us with a decade of experience working with students from across the country. With her undergrad and masters degree in mathematics, Chloe began her career as a high school math teacher for 5 years before deciding to switch to teacher development and administration. She went on to obtain her 2nd masters degree from Columbia University which catapulted her into her career now as an Assistant Principal. Chloe still continues to teach and tutor students in mathematics courses and prides herself on her relationship building skills with both students and parents.

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.

Brian Wagner

With over a decade of professional tutoring expertise, Brian is a passionate math teacher specializing in all levels of high school math and standardized testing. He currently teaches AP Calculus BC and Honors PreCalculus while also leading the math side of the Peer Tutoring Program at Malvern Prep. Brian is known for creating a warm, friendly atmosphere where students feel not just comfortable but excited to explore the world of numbers. Organized, innovative, and deeply caring, Brian goes above and beyond to ensure students not only grasp mathematical concepts but also build self-confidence, independence, and a genuine love for learning.

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.

Kristina Pentz

Kristina has an extensive teaching background, with 10 years of experience and two professional teaching licenses in Social Science and Special Education. Her teaching experience has spanned working with students at a variety of different levels, from academically gifted students through students with learning disabilities, ADHD, and testing anxiety. Most recently, she has been teaching in Los Angeles, California and has helped hundreds of students get accepted into the best universities on the West Coast by increasing their ACT and SAT scores.

Robert Levin

Rob is that rare teacher with such a passion for his work that he's received teaching excellence awards from middle school all the way through graduate school levels. He holds degrees from Brandeis, Brown, and Carnegie Mellon universities, with teaching experience at leading public and independent schools. Rob now teaches prospective teachers at Villanova University and maintains a portfolio of tutorial students, especially in History/Social Studies and English.

Frank Simutis III

Ever since he was a kid, Frank has been energized by games and puzzles, and for the past four years, he has enjoyed tutoring math in order to help others solve them too in a supportive and encouraging way. A graduate of Villanova University where he was a four-year Presidential Scholar, Frank earned his Bachelor of Science in mathematics while tutoring fellow students from within the math department. He has since worked at a national tutoring company, expanding his teaching to include individual and group SAT/ACT prep and AP Calculus prep, before coming to work at Franklin Yard.

Franklin Yard was born from a love of teaching.