About

Who We Are

We build on students’ educations as well as fill in the gaps. We teach students how to succeed with SAT, ACT, SSAT, LSAT, and PSAT test prep. We prepare students for lifelong success where schools alone cannot. We cultivate students for success on and beyond grades and tests and position them to get the most out of their school years. Our team offers admissions consulting, individualized tutoring services, public speaking programs, and more.

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Our Team

SHAWN BERGER

Founder & Director of English
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Shawn has a bachelor's degree in English Language Arts and a master's degree in Adolescence Education, as well as a diploma in Spanish as a Foreign Language. He is a New York State Certified Teacher who has had a broad range of experience teaching 7th-12th graders in both urban and rural settings; public, radical, and private schools from the Bronx to Princeton. In addition to managing Lyceum, he teaches 8th grade English part-time at Chapin School Princeton. Throughout his career, he has been a Dean of Student Life, Professional Development Committee Chair, lacrosse and cross country coach, and Executive Board Member of the New Jersey Council of Teachers English. The Lyceum Institute realizes Shawn's belief that students succeed most when they have a balance of group learning and one-on-one tutoring services. Being able to both teach and tutor is one of his greatest fortunes.

ALEXANDRA TABIBNIA

English Tutor & Remote Public Speaking Instructor
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Alexandra has her B.A. in English Literature and her Ed.M. in Secondary English Language Arts Education, both from Rutgers University. Alexandra has had over 16 years of experience teaching English literature at the high school level, as well as 15 years tutoring students in SAT/ACT test prep and language arts/writing skills. She currently continues to tutor, in addition to providing writing assessment services for private test companies. Alexandra has also written two resource books for classroom teachers: Teaching Reading, Analyzing and Writing in 10 Lessons and Fight the Fake News Invasion.

ANTONIO ALVAREZ

Director of Math
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Antonio has his B.S. in Applied Arts in Science from RIT, with specializations in Applied Sustainable Technology and Astrophysics. He continues to research and develop an ongoing project known as “GreenHouse”, which is a modular housing model that uses highly sophisticated sustainability, physics, and mathematical principles to maximize efficiency and prioritize clean energy. In taking on this endeavor, he has found a passion for helping students grow to find their own success in math and science and achieve their goals in higher education.

KATIE GRASSO

Math and English Tutor

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Katie Grasso has a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts and is working on a Master’s Degree from the Wentworth Institute of Technology. She has always been drawn to reading and writing, and discovered her passion for tutoring, especially grammar correction and generating ideas for topics. She tutored at UMass, specifically in Reading, Writing, Calculus and Architecture related sciences. Striving to make every lesson connect to the real world and everyday situations to help the student understand through real world  connections, . I teach analytical writing which goes far beyond simply grammar and structure to help bring the writer’s voice to life through writing.

 Linda Ziamanesh is an undergraduate at the University of Virginia majoring in Chemistry and minoring in German

LINDA ZIAMANESH

Math and Science Tutor
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Linda Ziamanesh is an undergraduate at the University of Virginia majoring in Chemistry and minoring in German.  At UVA, Linda is a writer for The Cavalier Daily,  an undergraduate research intern, and is involved in club sports. Through her many volunteer experiences, Linda has been able to combine her love of science with her enthusiasm for working with kids, teaching and mentoring with fun science experiments and lessons. She is thrilled to be able to continue to combine working with students and science at Lyceum.

NINAAD LAKSHMAN

SSAT Math and English Tutor & Student Data Analyst
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Ninaad is a graduate of Lyceum’s SAT/ACT English Tutoring program. Both his total and section scores for the SAT, ACT, and SSAT are in the 99%ile. His academic success includes receiving his AP Capstone Diploma in 2 years with the highest score of 5 and performing in the top 1% of the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth Program. Ninaad is the founder of Gifted Gabber, a business dedicated to making conversation a superpower, and InspireYouth, a nonprofit organization which teaches youth how to capitalize on technologies specific to their future careers. Research he conducted alongside a Harvard professor on the advent of BlockChain technologies in contemporary business will be published in the upcoming edition of the International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science.

TIANSONG CHENG

Math Tutor
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Tiansong has a BSc in civil and environmental engineering from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and an MS in the same field from UC Berkeley. He is currently completing his PhD in Engineering. Passionate about math and fascinated by the logic and system behind this subject, Tiansong is eager to share his understanding of and enthusiasm for math with students through teaching. Tiansong is also an amateur YouTuber, posting academic and public science videos.

Testimonials