Andy has over 8 years of experience working in education, during which he has been able to help hundreds of students improve their SAT scores by teaching them the study habits and critical thinking heuristics that he, himself, used as a high schooler to improve from 1900 to 2400 in 2 months. In class, Andy promotes a positive atmosphere to motivate students to be better. Outside of teaching, he loves to practice volleyball, play video games, and make toast.
Our Team
TEST PREP AND COLLEGE COUNSELING
Our team consists of graduates from top institutions in the United States. They have tackled the SAT, excelled in high school, and have been admitted into top institutions. Now, they are here to help you do the same!
Peggy Shih
University of California, Berkeley
Peggy has worked extensively with students on College Counseling, SATs, ACT, AP Exams, the DELF, and the JLPT. Once an international student herself, Peggy is passionate about empowering students with the same opportunities that studying abroad has given her. Her career has brought her around the world to Paris, San Francisco, Dubai, Shanghai, and, now, to her hometown Taipei. When she is not spending time with her students, Peggy enjoys learning languages, drawing manga, and pondering over existential questions.
Azusa Ueno
Yale University /Manhattan School of Music
Azusa has over 10 years of experience in education, working as a senior tutor for 8 years at a New York City based test prep company before moving to Dubai to continue her career as both an instructor and curriculum developer. She has worked with hundreds of students on standardized tests (SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests in Math I/II, Chemistry) and AP Exams (Chemistry and Music Theory). She also teaches specialized subjects (Chemistry, Algebra II/Trig, Pre-Calculus, French, and Japanese). Azusa is a concert pianist who has performed in the US, Japan, Czech Republic, and Dubai as well as a classical album review critic.
Ariel Zhang
Yale University
Ariel is a current student at Yale studying Psychology and Data Science (for now at least)! She likes drawing, cooking, baking and gaming in her free time, so feel free to ask her to game with you. She loves making friends with her students.
Avery Liou
University of California, Berkeley
Avery majors in computer science at UC Berkeley. He hopes to continue to pursue a Master's degree in computer science and then enter the software development industry. Besides helping prospective college students with their essays, he enjoys baking macarons and playing Nintendo Switch in his free time.
Chase Tai
University of California, Berkeley / Harvard University
Chase graduated from Harvard and has helped hundreds of students apply to colleges and graduate schools. Having spent his teenage years in Taiwan and the U.S., he understands the struggles faced by international students and third culture kids. With an undergraduate degree in economics at UC Berkeley, Chase also worked in data analytics, asset management, and sports broadcasting before PANO. After work, he enjoys food, photography, and watching the NBA.
Vadim Rubin
University of Maryland
Vadim graduated in the inaugural Asian Studies class from the University of Maryland. He then went on to become a Mandarin Instructor at The New Century School in Baltimore, Maryland. Vadim has successfully helped students increase their SAT I Reading and Writing score by an average of 200 - 300 points and their essay scores by 10-15 points.
Michael Yin
Harvard University
Michael is majoring in Applied Mathematics and intends to major in Economics for his master degree. In his free time, he loves making music with his Acappella team and getting insights from friends. Although the college application process is not always pleasant, Michael still enjoys and likes the idea of writing essays and helping students discover the stories that they want to share.
Doris Chiang
Harvard University/ University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Doris grew up in Taipei and moved to America when she was 18 for college. She studied economics at Harvard College (class of 2015) and later pursued a Master's degree at UNC Chapel Hill. She currently works at a startup in New York and enjoys exploring museums, browsing Reddit, and helping international students succeed in America.
Mindy Hsu
New York University
Mindy graduated from New York University with a degree in Economics and Business, and grew up in three different countries. Mindy is currently a global marketer at L'Oreal and has worked in the media and entertainment industry in corporate strategy. She is excited to help students translate their unique narratives and perspectives into admissions essays.
Mitchell Lui
University of California, Berkeley/ University of Toronto
Mitchell has over 4 years of experience working with students in both Hong Kong and California. He has helped students prepare for SAT, ACT, AP, IB, etc. He is going to become a lawyer and will practice corporate law at one of Canada’s top law firms. Mitchell is familiar with different application processes and is passionate about helping students improve their writing skills.
Claire Kuo
Columbia University
Claire is a student at Columbia University studying Creative Writing and Political Science. She is excited to help students in Taiwan develop their stories and voices because, as a former IBSH student, she was once in their very shoes. But she also just adores writing and education. In her spare time, she volunteers in non-profits, watches late night comedy shows, and trains to be a cookie connoisseur.
Aaliyah Ibrahim
Yale University
Aaliyah Ibrahim is a Nigerian graduate from Yale College with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and a certificate for completing the Multidisciplinary Academic Program in Human Rights. Her co-curricular involvement in college included teaching and supporting youth in the Yale Refugee Project and the Yale Young Global Scholar. Aaliyah is also a literature and art enthusiast and can be found actively engaging with poetry or taking photographs.
Carlos Schmidt-Padilla
Harvard University / University of California, Berkeley
Carlos graduated from Harvard University in 2015 and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. He enjoys traveling, trying new cuisines, and getting lost in large urban areas. Carlos looks forward to helping students succeed in the college admissions process.
Michele
UC Berkeley
Michele completed her undergraduate degree in biology at UC Berkeley, and is a recent graduate from a joint masters in translational medicine program at UC Berkeley/UCSF. She specializes in cancer immunology has over 4 years of experience working in the biotech industry in San Francisco. Outside of healthcare, she is passionate about education and draws upon her own experiences as an international student when she teaches. In her free time she enjoys learning new languages, traveling, and being at the beach 🙂
Ryo
The University of Sydney
Throughout the years of Ryo’s teaching, he holds the belief that English should be taught as an essential tool to help learners improve themselves, instead of being treated merely as another subject at school. As a result, besides passing down language knowledge to learners, managing learner’s motivation, training learners’ learning strategy and helping learners establish a good learning habit are some of the most important aspects in Ryo’s class.
Chichi Chang
UC Berkeley
Chichi is majoring in bioengineering at UC Berkeley.She is going to pursue a PhD to integrate her passions for engineering and medicine. Having studied in Hong Kong and Shanghai, she understands the struggles that many international students face when applying for colleges. In her free time, she likes to run, volunteer, paint, scroll through Subtle Asian pets for cute puppies, and watch Romee Stridj’s Youtube videos.
Rene H. Tsukawaki
Cornell University
Rene is a multicultural and multilingual Third Culture Kid, who has moved at an interval of 4-5 years internationally for all of her life. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in English Literature and minors in Asian American Studies and Inequality Studies. Currently, Rene works for a global tech company, and in her free time enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her dog. She hopes to guide students so that they may realize their own stories and learn how to best share them.
Gaelle A Pfister
University of Texas at Austin
Gaëlle graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2017 with a double major in Corporate Communications and Chinese Language & Culture. She’s half-French, half-Spanish, has lived in 7 different countries, and speaks French, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Chinese. In 2018, she moved to Taipei where she currently works at a tech startup in sales/marketing. In her free time, Gaëlle loves traveling to new destinations, playing high-intensity sports, baking, and painting.
Winn Cui
UC Berkeley
Winn earned four degrees from UC Berkeley in the fields of Computer Science, Data Science, Cognitive Science, and Molecular and Cell Biology. Having experience in both the tech sector of the SF Bay Area, as well as the biotech sector in San Diego, Winn is applying his knowledge and skills to explore the interdisciplinary cross-sections that lie between the fields of software engineering, AI/ML, education, health, and design.
Jeffrey Tang
UC Berkeley
Jeffrey is a graduate from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in History . With a strong passion for education, he has worked with high school and community college students from all backgrounds on the essay editing and college application process. Additionally, Jeffrey has tutored students privately in college-level physics, English, and history. During his free time, Jeffrey loves to cook, play video games, visit batting cages, and dance.
Cindy Chao
New York University
Cindy graduated from New York University with a degree in Economics and Business Studies. Prior to working at Pano, she did some marketing related jobs and internships in New York. Born and raised in Taiwan, she understands the struggles faced by international students and is willing to help students with all aspects of the application process. In her free time, she enjoys working out, going outdoors, traveling and watching Netflix.
Malaika Aryee-Boi
Yale University
Malaika Aryee-Boi graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in History. She made the switch from STEM to the humanities in her second year. Malaika also discovered another passion in education. She has worked in various teaching capacities ranging from the Yale Young Global Scholars Program to college counselling. After graduation, she spent a year at the University of Ghana as a teaching assistant. In her spare time, Malaika enjoys video-calling, singing along and imagining better worlds.
Jonathan Zou
Pennsylvania
Jonathan graduated from the University Pennsylvania as a Vagelos Molecular Life Science Scholar majoring in Biochemistry and submatriculating with a Masters in Chemistry. Having worked as a teaching assistant to Philadelphia students ranging from the kindergarten to collegiate level, Jonathan is excited to draw from his personal and teaching experiences to help more students to the best of his ability. Besides education, he is passionate about biomedical research, running and NBA.
Maame Boatemaa
New York University/ The London School of Economics
Maame won over $300,000 in grants and scholarships as an undergrad at NYU. She had worked in Zambia as a Princeton in Africa fellow and made a hobby out of helping students get accepted into their dream schools and research programs at Johns Hopkins and NYU, to name a few. As a current graduate student at the London School of Economics, Maame is fully funded to study development through the lens of environmental policy. In her spare time, Maame writes for the Garlic Project and makes YouTube videos about college applications and travel.