Meet Our Tutors

& Staff

Bayley - Tutor

Bayley Leyshon is a lifelong resident of central Virginia; they just arrived back home from a brief stint in Syracuse, NY and are excited to begin tutoring at PVCC! Bayley got their BA in theatre from William & Mary and hopes to work full time in professional theatre for as many decades as humanly possible. As a child of a librarian, their secondary love is all things reading and writing. Bayley's favorite genres are fantasy and spoken-word poetry, and their free time is often spent out in nature or playing DND.

Carson - Tutor

Carson (She/He) is a homeschool graduate from rural Virginia. Previously dual enrolled, Carson is a relatively new student at PVCC with a strong passion for writing and the English language. Working towards an associates degree in science, Carson hopes to complete both four-year college and medical school to become a surgeon. In his free time, Carson likes to write creatively, listen to music, and play video games with her siblings. He looks forward to assisting his fellow students with their writing in the writing center!

Caroline -Tutor

Caroline is an educator and poet from Kansas. She graduated from UVA with her MFA in poetry writing this past spring, and she is sticking around Charlottesville for another year before moving to Kansas City and starting her career as a high school English teacher. Her undergrad degree from Wichita State University is in Creative Writing and Curriculum and Instruction. She loves embroidery, weird video games, and weirder poetry.

Erica - Front Desk

Erica is a current UVA student who wistfully longs for the days of PVCC classes. Her main hobby is listening to music in a variety of styles, boasting an almost 7 hour session of YouTube Music playing in the background of reading, homework, and general "interneting" regularly. Erica also has a love for mysteries, from murder mysteries to spy movies to escape rooms. If it's solvable, she's on the case!

Gil - Tutor

Gil grew up in Nelson county and has called Charlottesville “home” for 12 years. He is a PVCC and UVA alum who now studying to get his Master's in Social Work at VCU. Gil’s interests vary wildly from the culinary arts, bartending, traveling, writing poetry, and reading science fiction. He also enjoys working with people and learning about their varied insterest and ideas.

Grace - Tutor

Grace is a PVCC student studying in the Liberal Arts program. After receiving her associates degree at PVCC, she plans on transferring to Willam & Mary, where she hopes to study political science and eventually go on to law school. She is a born and raised Virginian and enjoys traveling with her family. She is a self-described “social butterfly” who enjoys meeting and interacting with new people. She loves cats, musicals, crime podcasts, reading, and spending time with friends and family. Her happy place is inside any Barnes & Noble.

Ian - Tutor

Ian is a recent transplant to Charlottesville after graduating from the University of Richmond in December 2024. He originally comes from Cleveland, Ohio, but he fell in love with Virginia while going to college. He is planning on attending law school, and in his free time, he enjoys cooking, reading, lifting, and training Muay Thai.

Kat - Tutor

Katrina (she/they) is a fan of weird horror novels, coffee, all things plants and fungus related, songwriting, and knitting. They earned their B.S. In Biology at Virginia Tech, conducting research on maple seed dispersal flight paths, and now work a variety of jobs grounded in their passion for community. She is excited to be working with students for her first semester at PVCC!

Mandi - Tutor

Mandi is originally from Kermit, TX but has been in Virginia for most of her life. She attended PVCC and then transferred to JMU where she majored in Psychology and worked as a TA for a semester. In her free time, Mandi enjoys writing and playing video games.

Manija - Front Desk

Manija graduated from Charlottesville High School but was born in and grew up in Afghanistan before moving to the United States in 2017. She is in her second semester at Piedmont Virginia Community College studying business, and she plans to transfer to a university once she finishes here. In her free time, Manija enjoys working out and exploring new places to try matcha.

Micah - Tutor

Micah is a recent high school graduate and in his first semester at PVCC. He has dreams of transferring to the commerce school of UVA next year. Micah has lived in Charlottesville for the last decade. Before that, he resided in the towns of Richmond Hill, Georgia, and El Paso, Texas. He enjoys reading, writing, and incessantly playing the piano, much to the dismay of his family. Micah loves people and he really loves to talk. He is awful with social cues, so please tell him if he ever needs to shut up

Sarah - Tutor

Sarah moved to Charlottesville in the fall of 2023. She received her bachelor's degree in Animal Behavior and Creative Writing from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. She's worked in newspaper assembly, clinical trials, a grocery store, and two different animal shelters. This is her first semester as a tutor at PVCC, and she's looking forward to the opportunity to help people learn to love writing. In her free time, Sarah enjoys reading, writing, drawing, and hanging out with her sister and their cat.

Scott - Tutor

Scott is a first-year writing tutor here at PVCC. He holds a bachelor's degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing and is currently working towards his MFA in the same. An Arkansas transplant, he has found that mountains of Virginia suit him better than the humidity and plains of Central Arkansas. In his spare time, he enjoys playing video games, tabletop RPGs, and being involved in the local LARP (Live Action Roleplay) scene

Tabasum - Front Desk

This is Tabasum’s second year at PVCC, where she is pursuing an Associate of Science degree and planning to transfer to a university to pursue a degree in dental hygiene. Tabuasum was born and raised in Afghanistan, and has been living in the U.S. for almost 10 years. In her free time, she likes to spend time with her family, paint, read, journal, and watch movies

Thomas - Tutor

Thomas is a student at PVCC in the General Studies program with hopes to transfer to UVA for a Bachelor’s Degree. He is originally from Baltimore and worked on an oyster farm in Southern Maryland for 6 months. In his free time, he likes to cook, read, and spend time outside

Victor - Tutor

Victor (They/Them) is a graduate student at the University of Virginia who is studying English Education for Grades 6-12! They grew up in Northern Virginia but have been a proud member of the Charlottesville community since they started undergrad. Some of you may even recognize them from their work at Albemarle High School! Victor is bilingual in Spanish and English, so they are eager to help any English Learners by tutoring in Spanish.

Jenny - Director

Jenny Koster has taught writing for almost 20 years, first as a high school English teacher and then at Virginia Commonwealth University before coming to PVCC, where she is Professor of English and Writing Center Director. She has experience working as a writer/editor/ad salesperson at an outdoor magazine, a hostess/waitress at a fine dining restaurant, a marketing associate at an architecture firm, a freelance journalist/editor, and a “spy trainer” at a kids summer camp. She loves bringing all of these skill sets together to empower students to articulate their ideas about the issues that matter to them.

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