Westerly Learning Center A Ministry to Homeschooling Students and Their Families

Kim Torquato graduated with a BS degree in psychology from Syracuse University. She worked for several years at a Christian counseling agency in New York before returning to school to study computer programming. She received a postgraduate certification in computer programming and taught several classes in programming as a teaching assistant at North Carolina State University. While working on her master's degree in computer engineering, her first child was born. Mrs. Torquato and her family moved to Princeton in 1992 where her husband took a position as Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University. Their second child was born in 1993, just after Mrs. Torquato began teaching at Westerly Learning Center. She currently serves as the Director of WLC and is the science education coordinator.

Vanessa Fiori teaches Writing & Speech I at Westerly. She graduated with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Art History from the same university. While working in a computer start-up company during the hi-tech 1980's and 90's, Vanessa discovered she had a gift for explaining things. She won a national prize for best interactive educational software for "Export to Win" a program commissioned by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey to encourage small companies to export. In 1997, she also won The Technical Writers Institute first prize for her documentation of the company's flagship "Managing Your Money" product, which was also a joint venture with Money Magazine, a division of Time Inc.. Vanessa has also taught Sunday School for many years at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia where she has specialized in teaching the Old Testament to upper elementary school students. Since homeschooling her son, Vanessa has taken up a great interest in the process of education and is thrilled to be working with the talented team at Westerly.

Carol is a committed homeschooling mother of three daughters, which she has homeschoolded for the past 11 years. Carol also serves as PAHC Administrator, and was a member of the PAHC Board of Directors for three years. She has taught homeschool courses at the Lower Bucks Academy, sharing her love of learning via scrap booking skills and her love of science and history with other homeschooled children. Prior to homeschooling Carol worked for sixteen year s for the computer firm Digital Equipment Corporation, in Operations and Administration. This year Carol is teaching a World Geography class at Westerly Learning Center.

Christine LeGall was born and raised in France but spent 10 years in the U.S. She holds a Master's degree in French Literature and a Master's degree in English and American Literature. She has completed the courses toward her PhD in Comparative Linguistics (English/French) at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, in Paris, France. Christine and her husband have been married for 25 years, and are raising their three children in a bilingual environment. Christine loves teaching and believes that learning new languages helps to build bridges between people of different cultures. She especially enjoys teaching the students at WLC because she has found them to be so kind to one another and enthusiastic about learning.

Patricia Melton earned her Magna Cum Laude Degrees in Art Therapy and Art Education from the College of New Jersey, and is certified by the State of New Jersey in Art Education - Preschool through grade 12. Ms. Melton has taught in public school, homeschool groups as well as workshops and private lessons. Patricia has two sons, has been a homeschooling mother for ten years. She enjoys the process of exploring art with her students by teaching them to expand their ability and creativity.

Marilyn Steben has a BA and a MA in Mathematics Education from the University of Illinois. In Cherry Hill, NJ, she taught math in junior high for 10 years and then high school algebra and geometry for 25 years. Since her retirement 2 years ago, she has been enjoying her grandchildren and tutoring locally in the Princeton area.

Margaret grew up in a bilingual speaking household on the Island of Puerto Rico. She graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Puerto Rico. She later came to the U.S. mainland where she met and married her husband of twenty- four years, Louis. When their two daughters reached school age, they felt led to homeschooling, an activity they pursued for twelve years until the oldest left for college. Margaret comes to WLC with over twenty-five years of experience tutoring children in the areas of reading, ESL, and two years working with the blind and severely handicapped.