We Are PBA Ventures
We make learning easy and fun!
Our insured team of professional tutors provide first class communication and are not only trained, but also dedicated to ongoing professional development!
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We work with a number of private, charter, and public schools in the area, and, with your permission, we'll communicate with your student's teachers and administrators.
Elizabeth Campbell
Manager
Academic Tutoring
Academic Tutoring
Elizabeth is originally from Kitty Hawk, NC. She was a Spanish teacher for 15 years and has worked in both public and private schools in NC. Most recently she taught at Woodlawn School, where she was not only an educator, but a tennis coach, assistant varsity girls basketball coach, and one on one tutor. Elizabeth graduated in 2005 from Lynchburg College in Virginia, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish and Secondary Education. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband (who she met through Patrick!), playing golf and tennis, and being outside. She is excited to be managing PBA Ventures and maintaining the great work that Patrick started in 2016.
Amanda Soesbee
Academic Tutoring
Amanda graduated from UNC-Charlotte with a BA in English and a minor in Philosophy. Her parents and grandmothers were all teachers; Amanda followed in their footsteps and has now been teaching in North Carolina for over 20 years. She is a native of Huntersville and is currently teaching English and Journalism at her high school alma mater, North Mecklenburg. Amanda lives on a farm in Huntersville where her family raises cows and horses. She spends most of her free time outside - working in her garden or her horse's pasture, walking her two dogs, or reading in the porch swing. Amanda loves traveling, live music, trivia, coffee, and chocolate ice cream. Her favorite novelist is Stephen King, and her favorite poet is William Carlos Williams.
Alexander graduated from Queens University of Charlotte in 2014 with a BS in Chemistry as a North Carolina Teaching Fellow. He immediately went into teaching after college and has been a public school teacher for 3 years. Alexander has been tutoring professionally for almost 6 years but has been tutoring peers and classmates for as long as he can remember. Alexander resides in Charlotte with his dog and enjoys spending time with his friends when he's not teaching. He specializes in most middle and high school math and science courses.
Tony Solis
Academic Tutoring
Tony is a 2019 graduate of Davidson College. He double majored in Educational Studies and Public Policy and hopes to become a school principal and fight for progressive education policy that supports all students. He is currently a math teacher in D.C. Tony is easy going and likes to run, juggle, and play music.
Alexander Stocking
Academic Tutoring
Sophia Hood
ACT/SAT Test Prep
Academic Tutoring
Sophia is a current Junior at Davidson College. A member of the Varsity Track and Field team, she maintains her utmost commitment to athletics equally to academics. A Psychology major and Educational Studies minor, she plans to pursue a career in School Psychology. She attended University of Chicago Laboratory School for her first two years of high school, and graduated from Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland in 2020. She has a variety of experience working with youths, and throughout this summer interns in a teaching role at
a summer enrichment program focused around literacy and social justice. In her free time, Sophia enjoys reading and baking.
Amy Strong Pasko
SAT Test Prep
Academic Tutoring
Amy is a Charlotte native and alumna of the IB program at North Meck High School. She received her BA in History from the University of South Carolina where she rode on the varsity equestrian team and spent a year studying history at the University of Warwick in the UK. On graduation she returned to her high school alma mater ten years ago to teach World History and IB International History. Amy completed her education (for now) with an MA in History from UNC-Charlotte.
CODY MITCHELL
Professional Tutor
Shannon Gilroy
Academic Tutoring
Shannon has been tutoring with us for several years. She graduated from UNCC with a degree in Systems Engineering and a minor in Math. She currently works for tech start up, SpotOn. In her free time she enjoys tutoring students, reading, and being outdoors with her rescue pup. Working with students has been a longstanding passion for her and she values helping young learners become motivated, resilient, advance academically, and the best part, become independent learners!
Claire Howell
ACT/SAT Test Prep
Academic Tutoring
Claire is a sophomore at Davidson College (class of 2025), pursuing a degree in biology with a possible minor in genomics. At her high school, Claire served as a peer tutor, helping other students with French, history, and biology, specifically. When she isn’t busy with schoolwork, Claire enjoys hiking, spending time with friends, and
working on embroidery projects. At Davidson, Claire is a trip leader and executive board member for Davidson Outdoors, a tour guide, and a member of the equestrian team. During the summer of 2022, Claire worked as a kid’s counselor at C Lazy U Ranch in Granby, Colorado, allowing her to gain more experience working with kids and teens and teaching them new skills.
Benjamin Freeman
ACT/SAT Test Prep
Academic Tutoring
Benjamin is in the class of 2022 at Davidson College. He specializes in Math, Grammar, Physics, Spanish, and SAT/ACT prep. Benjamin did peer tutoring in high school and has since honed his skills as a tutor with PBA. In high school, he ran cross country and played soccer while balancing several AP classes. He understands the busy life of a high school student. At Davidson, he plans to be a Political Science and Economics double major. Benjamin understands how a valuable tutor can really influence a young student's life, he hopes he can help as much as he can with everyone he meets.
Seth Ligo
Academic Tutoring
A Davidson native, Seth earned a Bachelor’s from Princeton and a Master’s from Harvard before returning to North Carolina to pursue a PhD at Duke. He is now a professor of Religious Studies and Asian Religions at The University of North Carolina, Asheville.
While in Boston, Seth developed and managed a comprehensive tutoring curriculum for students aged 13-adult. In addition to SAT prep, he specializes in English and Foreign Language tutoring.
SherriJo Culbreth
ACT/SAT Test Prep
Academic Tutoring
SherriJo is a fun- loving teacher, tutor, wife, and mother of three boys. She loves games, hiking, and great conversation. SherriJo recognized her strength in helping others at age 11 when she found herself going desk to desk helping her peers in math once she finished her lesson. From then forward, her desire has remained seeking opportunities to come along with students helping them discover they actually “can.” Typically with a little help, once a student believes in themselves and is willing to try, they find not only success but also find the material rewarding. They just need that little bit of encouragement. We all do.
With a B.S. in Mathematics and years of success in teaching, tutoring a variety of subjects, and leading small groups, SherrIJo focuses on the student in helping them rise up and experience the excitement in learning.
SherriJo has been with PBA Ventures for over three years and finds each student a treasure and blessing to work with.
Jayne Carlisle
Academic Tutoring
Jayne is originally from Gastonia, North Carolina and is excited to be back east and live closer to her family. Ms. Carlisle graduated from Appalachian State with a degree in Biology, minor in Chemistry. After graduating, she became a Texas Teaching Fellow and taught high school AP Chemistry in Austin, Texas for six years before creating and coordinating the STEM curriculum for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater San Diego. She is currently an upper level science teacher at Woodlawn School where she teaches AP Bio, AP Chem, Environmental, and Earth Science. She has tutored high school science and math for 15 years and has experience in public and private school systems. When she’s not working with young people, Ms. Carlisle enjoys hiking, performing in local theater, and improv.
Cliff Gilman Jr.
Academic Tutoring
Cliff hails from New Hampshire. He recently graduated from Duke University where he double majored in Physics and Philosophy. He has been tutoring in the subjects of physics, math, and standardized tests for PBA Ventures for 6 years. Beyond tutoring, Cliff works as an applications engineer for a technology start-up. In his free time, he enjoys playing music, making pottery, and exploring mountains by hiking and back-country skiing. Cliff is looking forward to coming back to North Carolina and starting Law School at Duke in the fall of 2022.
Isabel Hanson
Academic Tutoring
Isabel grew up in Winston Salem, NC with two brothers and a plethora of pets. She attended Loomis Chaffee, a boarding school in Connecticut, for high school. and then graduated from Davidson College in 2020 with a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a minor in Health and Human Values. Isabel is currently in her second year of Dental School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In her free time, Isabel is actively involved in several volunteer organizations and loves to play sports. Isabel has a lot of experience working with kids of all ages through a variety of roles as a coach, nanny, tutor, mentor and health aid. She tutors all levels of school-curriculum math and sciences and specializes in the SAT and ACT. Isabel has over 8 years of tutoring and mentoring experience and hopes to enrich every student she works with to unlock new heights for them.
Joel
ACT/SAT Test Prep
Academic Tutoring
Joel was born in Reading, PA, and
after high school, attended Davidson College and graduated in 2012 with a BS in neuroscience. Joel went on to earn an MS in neuroscience from Baylor College of Medicine in 2016 He taught high school and community college biology courses from 2016-2018 and will never stop talking about the brain as long as you continue to show interest in the topic! Joel enjoys learning obscure/forgotten skills like blacksmithing, Mongolian throat singing, and shifting without a clutch (none of which should be attempted without guidance of course).
Mary Grace Bunch
Academic Tutoring
Mary Grace is a Raleigh, NC native. She is studying Computer Science at Davidson College. Outside of the classroom, she is a goalkeeper and captain on Davidson’s Women’s Soccer Team. Mary Grace is a continuous learner and wants to make an impact on the people in her community. She has experience tutoring her peers at Davidson and is excited to work with students through PBA Ventures. Her favorite subjects are math and science. She plans to pursue a Software Engineering role after graduation.
Simon Lau
Academic Tutoring
Simon grew up in Miami, Florida and is currently attending Davidson College where he intends to major in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and minor in Film and Media Studies. He speaks four languages, those being English, Spanish, Chinese, and French. In high school, he passed 10 AP tests while having an officer position in 6 clubs. He understands the importance of balancing classes along with extracurriculars and preparation for standardized testing. He was the
co-president of his math club and helped tutor his peers in Calculus AB and BC. Out of school, he helped his peers prepare for the SAT/ACT and provided them with different tips and tricks he picked up during his own preparation for the SAT/ACT. In his free time, he enjoys playing the cello and the piano, and loves to bake. Every week, he tries to pick a new recipe to make or a new activity to try out with
his friends.
Phoebe Fowler
Academic Tutoring
Hello! My name is Phoebe Fowler, and I am a current junior at Davidson College. I am a biology major and Hispanic studies minor on a pre-medicine track from Orlando, FL. I’m also a member of the Davidson Women’s Soccer team! I have experience tutoring high school aged
students in English and math, and I am a Spanish class teacher assistant at Davidson. I look forward to connecting with families and helping local students through PBA Ventures!
Remi White
Academic Tutoring
Remi is a senior at Davidson College, graduating with a double major in Computer Science and Educational Studies. She has always had a passion for teaching and has taught Spanish to Davidson K-8 students for the past 4 years. In addition to Spanish, she specializes in SAT, Writing, and Math tutoring. After scoring a top 99% score on the SAT in high school, she hopes to help other students excel on the exam. Outside of class, Remi is a member of the Women's Soccer team at Davidson and enjoys running and hiking. Remi looks forward to joining Goldman Sachs as a Software Engineer next year and plans to continue tutoring.
Julia Shick
Academic Tutoring
Julia holds a BA in English from Davidson College and an MPA from UNCC. She is originally from Chicago, but has spent much of her life seeing and living all over the place (domestically and internationally). After college, she spent time working as a firefighter/EMT, a clinical research coordinator, and a teacher. She currently works as an infection preventionist and lives in Huntersville, NC with her husband, her dog, and her honeybees. She loves learning new things, and helping others to enjoy the learning process too. She also loves the outdoors, yoga, travel, animals, being creative, and figuring out the best way to communicate and work with others.