Learn from Experts with Extensive Career Experience
Our LTP instructors not only have mastered a wide range of subjects, they also bring substantial career credentials. This blend of expertise and experience creates insight that allows them to customize their teaching to suit individual and group needs. LTP’s educators are committed to providing a professional and friendly learning environment that fosters respect for the pursuit of knowledge and appreciation for the process of profound thinking. With a mission to make Math and English enjoyable and understandable for all students, they strive to uphold their reputation in the education community as honorable, dedicated and quality master tutors.
Vinay Bhawnani
Founder & CEO, Director of Mathematics
vinay@loudountestprep.com
A lifelong mathematician with strong communications skills, Vinay Bhawnani has tutored since 2007 and has worked with more than 5,000 students in middle school, high school, college and beyond. His all-inclusive expertise ranges from Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry to Pre-calculus, Calculus and SAT prep. Vinay presents math in an innovative and engaging fashion that most students simply are not exposed to in a traditional classroom setting. Rather than distributing handouts or lecturing from a textbook, he strives to make his lessons both interesting and applicable to the real world. Indeed, for many of his students, math becomes “fun” for the first time.
A 1999 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Vinay majored in Bioengineering and minored in chemistry and mathematics. He also took classes at the prestigious Wharton School of Business. In high school, he scored a “perfect” score (800) on the math sections of the PSAT and SAT, as well as the Math Level II Subject Test.
His career has included technical consulting work in New York City and an eight-year position with AOL where he managed billing systems. Locally, he worked as the Technical Director for a startup company and until early 2015, was Director of Product Management and the Research and Development head for a local software development company. Since then, Vinay has dedicated his time at Loudoun Test Prep to helping students and families succeed. In his “spare” time, he teaches math and is the STEM Director at Loudoun School for the Gifted.
Jessica Muse
Director of SAT/ACT Reading and Writing
Jessica is Third Culture Kid with parents in the Foreign Service and lived in places like Ivory Coast, India, Germany and Costa Rica. She graduated from an International Baccalaureate school in Lima, Peru with an IB Diploma. Jessica has over 10 years of experience working with students of all ages in classroom settings in the Maryland and DC area, and loves the working with students on improving their self confidence and helping them discover their own potential success. At LTP, Jessica heads up SAT/ACT Reading and Writing programs. With her unique educational background and experience, she continues to innovate our approach and course offerings.
She holds an A.A. Degree in in Mathematics and Psychology, and is completing a combined BS and MEd program in Mathematics Education and Industrial Organizational Psychology. Jessica lives in Germantown with her husband, their two daughters and their faithful rescue dogs, Marley and Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Owen Hill
SAT/ACT Math Instructor
Math Tutor (Geometry – Multivariable Calculus)
Owen has traveled around the world in his quest for knowledge. His math career began at a young age in MathCounts competitions, where he competed twice at the national level in Illinois and Texas. After graduating high school, Owen left his home state of Missouri to attend the College of William and Mary in Virginia where he received a B.S. in Mathematics and was recognized with the Leiba Rodman Excellence in Research award. During his junior year, he spent a semester abroad attending the Math in Moscow program. In 2017, he graduated with a Master in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario.
Through his studies, Owen has mastered a breadth of mathematics ranging from Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus to Discrete Math, Linear Algebra, and much more. He loves teaching and helping students develop creative problem solving techniques. Owen has extensive peer tutoring experience, and taught for two years in classroom settings. In his spare time, Owen enjoys playing soccer, weightlifting, and of course, continuing his research in mathematics.
Nathan Kastner
SAT/ACT Reading and Writing Instructor
AP Literature/AP Language/AP Government Tutor & Essay Writing
College Essay Writing
Born and raised in Maryland, Nathan has had a passion for words since he was a child. First, as a fifth grader, he began working on a series of novels, only to abandon them in favor of playwriting. Finally, at the age of eleven, he settled on songwriting—a passion that would define him from then until now. Throughout high school he wrote hundreds of songs, performed with a band, recorded albums, and ultimately gained admission to New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts to be a part of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. During his time in New York, he continued to write, record, and perform. In addition to his studies in music, he enjoyed courses in political science, economics, philosophy, and literature. In May, 2016, Nathan graduated with a BFA in recorded music and political science.
Since graduating, Nathan has worked as a fundraiser for political candidates and non-profits, including a stint on Dead and Company’s nationwide tour during the summer of 2016; he also worked as a researcher for a D.C. based lobbying firm specializing in international relations. During the Spring of 2017, he decided to dedicate himself to music and spent three months touring across the United States.
Nathan has been tutoring for nearly a decade in subjects as diverse as English, government, philosophy, test prep, and, of course, music. He enjoys few things more than conveying to students a passion for words and a love of learning. Nathan scored perfect 800s on both the reading and writing sections of the SATs and is looking forward to helping students of all skill levels reach their full test-taking potential.
Dr. Deborah March
SAT/ACT Reading and Writing Instructor
AP Literature/AP Language Tutor & Essay Writing
Deborah earned a Ph.D. in American Studies and African American Studies from Yale University, where she was also a Jacob K. Javits Fellow and recipient of the Sylvia Arden Boone Dissertation Prize. She received a B.A. in English literature from what is now the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York (CUNY). She maintains a Virginia Postgraduate Professional teaching license with an endorsement in English.
Her scholarly interests in literary modernism, cultural studies, visual culture, archive theory, and history of the book are informed by her desire to understand the real-world stakes of narrative texts. Rooted in historical context and an appreciation of literary form, her courses implicitly ask: what can stories do for people, and how have they worked to frame or structure our knowledge?
As an educator, Deborah is passionate about student-driven inquiry. In her previous position as a teacher for Fairfax County, Deborah co-founded and directed her high school’s writing center (based on the university model) and advised the school newspaper and broadcast journalism programs. Her ultimate pedagogical goal is to equip her students to form and pursue their own questions within and beyond her classroom.
Mary Masi
SAT/ACT Reading and Writing Instructor
Dual Enrollment/English 9-12 & College Essay Writing
Mary teaches Dual Enrollment, English 12 Academic, and English 10 Honors classes at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn. She holds a Virginia Postgraduate Professional teaching license with an endorsement in English, and she is an adjunct instructor of English at Northern Virginia Community College. She earned a perfect GPA of 4.0 throughout her entire graduate education while teaching Freshman Composition at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in English.
Before her teaching career, Mary worked in the editorial divisions of John Wiley & Sons and LearningExpress publishing companies in New York City as both an editor and writer. She has written and published four books, including The Culinary Arts Career Starter and How to Pass the U.S. Citizenship Exam.
Mary’s educational philosophy centers around the importance of discovering and nurturing each student’s path to learning success, so each student may then reach his or her full potential. She enjoys getting to know the students she teaches and helping them achieve and surpass their educational goals.
Jack Maschler
Student Tutor
Math (SAT/ACT, Geometry – Calculus BC)
Jack has been tutoring since 2013, working with many students: even teaching Algebra I to English language learning students. Despite being in High School, Jack has a vast knowledge of rigorous courses including the AP Sciences, Mathematics ranging from Algebra I to BC Calculus, AP Economics, and AP History. His academic prowess earned him recognition as an AP Scholar with Distinction from The College Board. His love for learning and spreading knowledge encourages his students to grow both as scholars and people each and everyday.
Throughout Jack’s years in High School he has conducted research on the application of proximity sensors in crash avoidance systems, participated in countless math competitions as a captain of the math team, and is an active member in four National Honor Societies. His achievement is not limited to academics. Jack is a three year captain and a four year member of the Varsity Lacrosse team. He holds two school records and was awarded all-conference honorable mention his junior year. Jack also played an active role in the pursuit for clean well water in the limestone karst districts of Northern Virginia. In his freetime, he pursues his never-ending journey to learn more while manifesting his thoughts into physical being. Recently, he has been learning the intricacies of String Theory while building wooden chairs and lightsaber hilts.
Katie Knipmeyer
Student Tutor
SAT/PSAT Math, Reading, and Writing
Math (SAT/ACT, Geometry – Calculus BC)
Essay Writing
Katie Knipmeyer is a high school student at Loudoun School for the Gifted. She helps students prepare for the SAT, PSAT, and SSAT and assists with a number of other topics in English and math. Her true passion, however, is for the sciences. She works as an intern at Georgetown’s Laboratory for Computational Cognitive Neuroscience, where she writes code to analyse data from experiments uncovering the ways in which the brain stores information about the meaning of words. Someday she hopes for a career in medical research, but for now she’s just worried about surviving college applications.
As a tutor, Katie enjoys working with her peers and starting conversations that delve into the heart of the topic at hand. She looks forward to bettering her own understanding of content by talking through it and exploring subject matter through discussion with her students.
