Meet our West Vancouver Tutoring Staff

Barbara received her Bachelor of Education degree from UBC. She taught in various North Shore Elementary schools. After taking time out to focus on her family, she returned to the education field through tutoring at Sylvan. She worked as a teacher in the Maple Ridge Sylvan for several years until she took on the position of Director. Being a life long North Shore resident, it seemed a good fit to continue with Sylvan in North and West Vancouver. She says Sylvan provides a wonderful opportunity to support families and to see children succeed and thrive.

Gene attended California State University, Chico, Oregon State University, and Yale University, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in Chemistry. In working in the Biotechnology industry, Gene both attended and conducted training sessions across many topics. He has provided support to students of all ages in Math, Science, Reading, and Writing. He encourages students not just to get an answer, but to learn processes in solving problems in order to be able to tackle tomorrow’s problems using today’s foundations. 

Karen attended UBC, Carleton University, Western Washington University, Oregon State University, and Worcester State University to obtain degrees in English Literature/History, Chemistry/Biology, Biosynthetic Organic Chemistry, and Secondary Science Teaching. She has taught elementary, middle school/jr. high, high school, and university subjects. Karen has also had many years of experience working in the Biotechnology industry and has learned to appreciate the importance of applied knowledge to theoretical subjects! Her years teaching middle and high school science and math have provided many opportunities to work with students to help them make connections.

Reid graduated from the University of Victoria with a degree in English Literature. Since then, he has discovered a passion for teaching and mentoring students in various subjects, and he has been a tutor with Sylvan since 2020. Reid believes in catering to each individual student’s needs, so that he or she can receive the guidance needed for their own learning and development.