You may register your child to participate in the spelling bee competition below. Please note that children must be ages 5-9 to compete. In addition, if you have enrolled your child in the spelling course, then you do not need to purchase entrance into the competition.
In 2013, Ms. Lauren Bridgeford graduated with a BA in Languages, Literature, and Criticism from Hunter College. She has also obtained her DELTA (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certification from Cambridge University. Currently, Ms. Bridgeford is a Registered Instructor accredited by the Institute for Excellence in Writing, and she is pursuing her master’s degree in Secondary Education.
While pursuing her bachelor’s degree from Emory University, Sydney served as a writing tutor in the Emory Writing Center. There, she underwent rigorous training led by world-class Emory instructors on how to teach writing. She has tutored hundreds of university-level students, providing instruction and feedback on a range of writing assignments. Sydney also holds her accreditation from the Institute for Excellence in Writing as a Certified Instructor. She has taught dozens of students the art of writing according to the IEW methodology known as Structure and Style.
Sydney grew up in Westchester County, New York. She graduated from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School with a concentration in information systems & operations management and a double major in philosophy. Currently, she resides in New York City.
Christine is a passionate writer and avid learner. While obtaining her bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, she wrote news articles with a focus on health and wellness topics. She also spent a year producing a television show and has extensive experience writing for video and live performance. A cognitive science major, Christine was a research assistant in an educational psychology lab and spent a summer working with Montessori schools.
A resident of St. Louis, Missouri, Christine plans to pursue a doctorate in physical therapy. When she isn’t immersed in the world of education, you can find her blogging, reading, running, or trying out new recipes.
For seventeen years, Heather Turpin has served as a K-12 private educator and tutor in the disciplines of reading, spelling, and writing. Her teaching practice focuses on serving students with learning disabilities as well as students who are gifted and talented. Heather has partnered with families of students who are deaf, students diagnosed with specific reading disabilities including dyslexia, and students who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). For eight years, Heather taught in a homeschool educational cooperative. In 2015, she began using Barton, an Orton-Gillingham-based curriculum, which led her to the IEW Structure and Style methodology, and ever since she has taught writing the IEW way.
Heather holds her accreditation from the Institute for Excellence in Writing as a Certified Instructor. She is also fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), trained as an ASL interpreter, and conversational in Spanish. From 2015 to 2017, she was enrolled in a TESOL Classroom Study. Currently she is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in doctrine and methodology of education. For nearly two years, Heather resided in Mexico before traveling to Costa Rica, where she educated students who were deaf and blind. Born in Okinawa, Japan, Heather is an avid international traveler. She homeschooled her own four children in Michigan, where she resides today.
Lauren Bridgeford is a NYC-based English teacher with fifteen years of classroom experience. In 2006, she began her teaching career as a curriculum specialist and K-12 educator for the Hillsborough County Public School District in Tampa, Florida. Soon after, Lauren transitioned to private education and for the past five years has served as a Senior Educator and English Language Teacher at the Oxford House College in Manhattan. Additionally, for two years, Lauren taught abroad in Cape Town, South Africa with a focus on early childhood education. She possesses extensive experience in assessment techniques and curriculum design for child and adult ESL and General English courses.
In 2013, Lauren graduated with a BA in languages, literature, and criticism from Hunter College. She has also obtained her DELTA certification (Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Cambridge University. Currently, Lauren holds her accreditation from the Institute for Excellence in Writing as a Registered Instructor, and she is pursuing her master’s degree in secondary education.
Rebekah Gilbert has spent many years mentoring and educating children of all ages across multiple subjects. Since graduating from Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in special education, she has served as a professional tutor, public and homeschool teacher, parent trainer, and private instructor. While tutoring within a homeschool community in 2016, she was introduced to the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). She currently holds an accreditation with IEW as a Certified Instructor and continues to teach using its Structure and Style methodology in her homeschool and private classes.
Rebekah grew up in Northern Indiana, where she developed into a lifelong learner. Perhaps that is why educating her own children at home was such an obvious choice. When she isn’t teaching a little one how to read or mentoring an older one on time management, she enjoys playing the piano, singing, walking in her neighborhood, serving in her church, and munching popcorn on the couch with her family.
Deanna Heikkinen has been privately teaching writing as well as history, literature, and art history to students grades 2-12 for over six years. Prior to that, she was a tenured professor of humanities at Los Angeles Valley College with a focus on teaching the Great Books of Western Civilization. Additionally, she taught world history, western civilization, Native American history, and anthropology at the college level. Whether teaching elementary, middle, or high schoolers for Rose Writing Center, Deanna's diverse background allows her to serve as our test prep, academic support, and custom lesson specialist.
Deanna holds a doctorate degree in education, a master’s degree in history, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in anthropology with an archaeology focus, and a bachelor’s degree in art history. Her archaeological research focused on the Greco-Roman and Coptic periods of Ancient Egypt. She spent numerous years as part of the University of California, Berkeley Tel El-Hibeh archaeological team, where she focused on excavating mummies and textile analysis. In addition, Deanna has completed IEW’s “Teaching Writing: Structure and Style” teacher training program.
Hollie Edwards has been educating children for seventeen years. She received her bachelor's degree and multiple subject teaching credential from California State University, Fresno in 2005. She served as a K-6 educator for many years before hanging up her public school teaching hat to homeschool her three children. Having a front row seat to witness the academic growth of her children the past seven years has been such a rewarding experience for Hollie. She has also taught in a homeschool cooperative, where she was introduced to the Institute for Excellence in Writing. In 2019, she began teaching IEW to both her own children and to a class of eager students and their parents.
When Hollie is not teaching, she is usually cheering for her kids at a swim meet or enjoying watching her daughter at dance practice. She loves to read, shop, and travel. Hollie's favorite place to be is always with her family and friends.
After graduating from Illinois State University in 2004, Molly Bruening began her long career in the classroom. Her first students were high schoolers with learning disabilities who struggled with reading and writing. It was Molly's great joy to create and search for curricula that would help her students thrive and find a love for language. When Molly began her own family, her life took a little twist and she started homeschooling her children. Early in this journey, she happened upon the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). It was just what she wished she had had in her classroom all those years before! For the last eleven years, Molly has used IEW’s many products to teach in traditional classroom settings, homeschool cooperatives, and her own homeschool. She loves helping her students find success in writing!
Molly resides in central Illinois with her husband, four children, and their dog, Frodo. She holds a bachelor’s degree in special education and is currently in the teacher training program for IEW. When she has a moment or two to herself, Molly can be found curled up with a good book.
Kathleen van Every was raised in Oregon and graduated from UC Riverside with a BS in business. She has been an accredited instructor with IEW since 2011 and is certified at the Master’s level in Barton Reading and Spelling. Realizing the overwhelming need for tutors in writing and dyslexia instruction, Kathleen founded her own business, Interactive English Instruction. Over the years she has worked with families from all over the United States as well as far flung regions such as Saudi Arabia and Israel. She also taught language arts at a co-op homeschool academy for ten years.
Kathleen homeschooled her own children in Delaware where she currently resides with a husband, a dog, and a bevy of backyard birds. When she isn’t tutoring or enjoying coffee with friends, she relishes reading just about any genre, listening to podcasts while exercising, volunteering for English as a Second Language (ESL) at her church, gardening, and watching the sun rise.
