Meet Our Team
Great Teachers Inspire
Our tutors and staff in Chaska consist of passionate educators who love inspiring children to succeed. Warm, caring and great at relating to kids, our tutors in Chaska know how to engage and motivate each child in a personal way—building confidence and smiles, as well as skills and better scores. We selectively choose tutors who know local curriculum and can link Sylvan lessons to what’s being taught in school.
Get to know our tutors and staff in Chaska!
Carrie Catania
Center Director
Director
As Center Director, Carrie works with families and staff to create a successful learning environment for all students. A teacher with over 20 years of experience in a variety of educational settings with students PreK-College. Carrie chose a career with Sylvan because she loves seeing students in a small learning environment where they feel safe to make mistakes and grow in confidence as well as knowledge and skills. She studied at North Central University where she earned a BA in Elementary Education. When Carrie isn’t at Sylvan, you’ll find her competing in triathlons, reading historical fiction books and enjoying the great outdoors.
Randy
Instructor
While Randy has many tutoring talents, he finds the greatest joy in Math tutoring and passing along much-needed mathematical skills to the next generation. He has a 40 year background in applied mathematics. When Randy isn’t at Sylvan, you’ll find him writing a data science book and watching lots of baseball.
Varun
Instructor
Varun is currently at student at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities studying Chemical Engineering. He as tutored students at the peer level throughout high school and tutored students at the local middle schools while in high school. He is a former Sylvan student who enjoyed his time and saw great success and we are excited to have him join our team. When he is not tutoring he enjoys being active and playing a variety of sports.
Becca
Instructor
Becca comes to Sylvan with a wide variety of experience and skills. She has a Bachelor of Science in Recreational Therapy, a minor in Social Welfare and a Masters in Teaching Special Education. She has been teaching and working in special education for 10+ years in a variety of settings including the Minnesota Autism Center. She currently teaches Special Education in Burnsville. At Sylvan Becca, enjoys working with all students of various abilities levels and can help with academic skills plus help motivate and work with students who might be below level and need that extra dose of confidence and patience. When not at Sylvan, Becca enjoys spending time with her adult children when they are home, and hanging out with her multiple dogs and cats. She likes going camping, attending rodeos, reading and hiking.
Sarah
Instructor
Sarah graduated from the College of St.Benedict’s with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences and Secondary Education. Sarah has previously worked in a tutoring center as an instructor and assistant director. She has taught a variety of subjects from beginning reading to ACT prep. She enjoys working with students of all ages. Currently she works in early childhood development as a personal nanny for two very energetic and curious kids. When she isn’t working she enjoys reading, watching documentaries, and spending time with her friends and family.
Start your child on the path to academic success today
Give us a call at (612) 284-3362 or fill out the form to discuss your child’s learning goals.
