Focus on Learning’s Team

TomS@FocusOnLearningCenter.com

Mr. Thomas Scharenborg is the Owner and Director of Focus on Learning. He has been working at FOL since 2007 to help develop and build the services and programs currently available at the learning center. Tom works with students, cultivating the joy of learning, study skills, time management, test preparation, and test anxiety mitigation.

He is a STEAM specialist (Science, Technology, Engineering, Fine Art Photography & Media Arts, and Mathematics) & enjoys sharing new and exciting ways to incorporate these subject areas into daily life. Tom also collaborates with teachers, parents, and educators on developing ways to integrate these disciplines into curriculums and helps create resources aimed at helping the next generation to enhance and enrich their lives as well.

In his spare time, Tom enjoys cycling, backpacking, camping, practicing Martial Arts, and photography. Tom also enjoys traveling to Japan and learning to speak the native language as often as possible.

READING, WRITING, ACT, P/SAT
EneC@FocusOnLearningCenter.com

Dr. Ene-Kaja Chippendale is the founder and president of Focus on Learning. She has worked for many years with students of all ages and needs to enhance their reading, writing, and learning skills. She adapts instruction to accommodate each student’s learning style and works with students to promote their love for reading. Her goal is to help students become confident and successful life-long learners.

Dr. Chippendale’s ACT workshops prepare teachers to coach the ACT and incorporate reading, English, and writing strategies into their classroom curricula. She also coaches students for the ACT, PSAT, and SAT.

A founding member of the Gifted Association of Missouri, she has been active in GAM, TAWL, LDA, and CHADD.

Dr. Chippendale graduated from Oberlin College and received an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin. She earned a Ph.D. in reading, linguistics, and learning disabilities at the University of Missouri. Her post-doctoral program at the University of Maryland prepared teachers to integrate students with special needs into regular classrooms. Prior to opening Focus on Learning in 1985, Dr. Chippendale taught at the University of Wisconsin, University of Missouri, and Central Methodist University, where she also set up the Student Development Center.

In her spare time, Dr. Chippendale enjoys reading, music, traveling, walking, and spoiling her grandchildren.

ACT, P/SAT, GRE PREP
Gary.Moss@FocusOnLearningCenter.com

Dr. Gary Moss has over 30 years of teaching, research, and test preparation experience. He is widely recognized in the ACT/SAT coaching field. His research examines the effectiveness of ACT coaching. Dr. Moss coaches students and presents teacher workshops for ACT preparation: Teachers as ACT (TAC) to prepare teachers to teach the ACT and Teachers for ACT Success (TFS) to guide teachers to incorporate into lesson plans. Dr. Moss has taught on both the high school and college levels and currently works extensively in St. Louis.

ACT, Math and Science Specialist
JustinB@FocusOnLearningCenter.com

Justin Burns is a veteran school teacher who teaches higher level math, ranging from Algebra I, II, and Geometry, to college-level calculus and statistics.

ACT, Math and Science Specialist
TLarkin@FocusOnLearningCenter.com

Tim Larkin has over 30 years of classroom teaching to include middle school through college level math.  His goal is to help students experience the beauty of learning and to better understand how math and science can be more meaningful in the classroom as well as in their daily lives.

S.Edmonds@FocusOnLearningCenter.com

Samantha Edmonds is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Missouri studying English literature and creative writing. She has eight years’ experience tutoring in writing and reading, five years’ experience teaching composition for high school and college-age students, and master’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati and the University of Tennessee. She is also the author of the chapbooks Pretty to Think So (Selcouth Station Press, 2019) and The Space Poet (Split/Lip Press, 2020). Her fiction and nonfiction appears in The New York Times, Gay Magazine, Ninth Letter, Michigan Quarterly Review, and The Rumpus, among others.

FOLCI@FocusOnLearningCenter.com

Brandon Painter is the Focus on Learning office assistant. He helps to focus on organizational goals and marketing strategies for FOL. He is assisting the web development, marketing, and advertising among Focus on Learning’s online offerings.