Introducing the Director
“The Academy was created to serve all learners, children as well as adults. A personal mission is to increase the numbers of students of color taking coursework and entering careers in the ‘hard sciences’ including the most important of those subjects: reading and mathematics. By undertaking this entrepreneurial endeavor, I hope to bring my professional mission in line with my personal mission for the benefit of countless numbers of students.”
La Vergne Lestermeringolo Thatch,Ph.D., is the founder and director of The Education STREaM Academy.
Dr. Thatch’s academic career has spanned from earning a bachelors of engineering from Pratt Institute (1991) and masters of engineering degree from City College of New York (1998) in mechanical engineering, to obtaining a specialist degree in school administration and supervision from Queen’s College in New York (2000). Dr. Thatch received a doctoral degree in science education with a specialization in physics education from The University of Texas at Austin.
As a former member of the team that created the online version of the Texas Teacher Reading Academies and a nine year teacher of secondary-level science and mathematics in the New York City Public School System (1993-2001), Dr. Thatch feels confident that she possesses the knowledge, skills, and compassion to deliver tutorial services to students in the PreK-14 range and feels capable to work well with their parents, as well.
Dr. Thatch’s teaching career began at the junior high school level, where she was a Mathematics/Science teacher for 7th and 8th graders. She takes pride in the fact that she coordinated and implemented the first successful science fair in that school. Another piece of Dr. Thatch’s experience was developed while working as a mathematics teacher for under-represented 7th and 8th grade students. These students were prepared for the specialized Math and Science high school exam; one of the main goals of the program. During her years of teaching, she continued learning in these areas and developed and facilitated professional development workshops in these areas for administrators as well as teachers. The preparation and facilitation of activities in the field of English as a Second Language (ESL) for parents, further allowed her to introduce to parents the mathematics and science curricula that their children would be engaged in throughout the school year.
Dr. Thatch has recently applied for the State of Florida Teaching Certificates (grades 6-12) in the areas of Mathematics and Physics.
Dr. Thatch truly feels that learning is a continual process and hope that she can transfer her love of education to students through the STREaM Academy. Dr. Thatch has spent the better part of the past 25 years teaching, learning, and working in preparation for this and she is confident that she can help your child to develop a love of these subjects and skills that will last them throughout their young adult years into adulthood. We, at STREaM, get results because our strategies work and we are truly dedicated to our work and more importantly, to the children that have been entrusted to us.
