Meet our team

Carol Barash, PhD, Founder and CEO, taught for 10 years at Princeton University, the University of Michigan and Rutgers University and developed educational programs in diverse corporate and community settings. As a member of the Douglass College admissions committee, she read thousands of admissions applications – and still remembers the best stories! For 25 years she has interviewed students for Yale and Princeton and coached high school and college students on application essays. Email Carol
Read Carol's Full Bio

Charles Inniss, Director of Teaching and Training,graduated from Swarthmore College with a BA in music, and received his MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. A production of his first full length musical, Written in the Stars, will be performed off Broadway in 2012. Through his work with Story To College, where Charles has been a part of our team from the start, he inspires young people to find their voice through their personal stories. Email Charles

Caroline Moore, Advisor, has a BA degree from Bryn Mawr College and a MEd from Temple University. She has served as an Associate Director of Admissions at Bryn Mawr College, as a Founding Director of the Bryn Mawr College program for Non-Traditional Students, and as Regional Director of Admissions at Princeton University. Before joining Story to College she was an independent college counselor focused on the essay section of the college application.

Jack Scotti, Director of Strategic Partnerships, attended the University of Delaware honors program where he majored in English, Spanish, and Comparative Literature. After college he joined Teach For America and taught English in an integrated co-teaching classroom to 7th and 8th graders. During his teaching career he led a writing inquiry team to assess his school’s success in writing instruction and align with the Common Core Standards. He is the captain of a three-person adventure racing team that has competed in five national qualifying events. Email Jack

Evelyn Colon, Instructor. After a successful 10-year career as a buyer in retail fashion, Evelyn returned to her love of teaching. This fall she starts student teaching and anticipates graduating from Montclair State University with a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Teacher of Students with Disabilities certification.

Shamayne Cumberbatch, Lead Instructor, moved to New Jersey at the age of four. She graduated from Princeton University, where she majored in English and received New Jersey secondary education teacher licensure. She is currently completing Harvard University’s Masters in Education Policy and Management and will join the Teach for America corps in Newark, New Jersey in June.

Amanda D'Annucci, Lead Instructor, is the US Program Manager of Dance 4 Peace, a global non-profit that uses creative movement to teach youth about peace, social and emotional learning, anger management, empathy, diversity appreciation, and conflict resolution. She recently performed a TED talk about storytelling and conflict resolution.

Mollie Eisenberg, Instructor, graduated from Reed College with a BA in English literature, and is currently a PhD candidate and a graduate instructor in the English department at Princeton University. She comes to Story to College with ten years of teaching and tutoring experience arming students with a strong grasp of the fundamentals in order to free them to explore their own ideas and experiences. She believes in the power of writing and storytelling to change individual, cultural, and national narratives.

Pip Gengenbach, Instructor, is a playwright and facilitator with over ten years of experience using stories to teach and reach young people. He also hosts the Shakespeare podcast The Mousetrap (www.the-mousetrap.net). Pip holds an MA in Educational Theatre from NYU, and occasionally he disguises himself as a fennec fox (see photo).

Christopher Inniss, Instructor, is an English instructor who has over 3 years experience aiding high school and college students with their writing. A graduate of Princeton University, he combines a unique focus on discipline with creative thinking that allows students to relay their stories in a meaningful way. Christopher is also a writer and musician, earning his Masters Degree in music education from Columbia University's Teacher's College in 2011.

Grace Kim, Instructor, is currently completing her Masters of Education in the Prevention Science and Practice Counseling Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Grace is working closely with Story To College and our Yale in Bridgeport partnership to assess the relationship between writing outcomes and the social-emotional components of our courses, as well as the use of storytelling as a vehicle for personal and social change. She also works in the College Counseling office at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Somerville.

Talia Kwartler, Instructor, is pursuing an M.St. History of Art and Visual Culture at Oxford University. She graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in Art and Archeology, where she studied Italian artists from across the centuries. From her many adventures on the canals of Venice, under the arcades of Bologna, and in the streets of London, she has encountered stories of all different kinds. Talia is excited to work with students to carve their own paths and help them realize where their unique interests and stories can take them.

Zach Kwartler, Instructor, teaches 11th Grade U.S. History in Holly Springs, Mississippi where he is a first year Corp Member with Teach For America. Before TFA, Zach graduated from Princeton University where he received a degree in History, and served as sports editor of the Daily Princetonian and captain of the junior varsity tennis team. Zach spent two summers in college working with Worldwide Orphans Foundation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he co-directed a day camp for over 200 children living with HIV.

Marguerita Merrick, Coach. A writer who lives in New York, Marguerita has lectured on Shakespeare and poetry, and taught writing workshops internationally. She works with 11th and 12th graders throughout the college application process, including SAT prep and language tutoring as well as application essays that reflect students’ uniqueness.

John Oros, Instructor. His first word was "cracker." Ever since then, John’s been a gourmand of language and connoisseur of communication. Excavating stories with Story to College since last summer, John is majoring in Theater, where his latest endeavor has been bringing primary sources of the Anthony Weiner scandal to the stage.

Nicole Teitelbaum, Instructor, is a skilled public speaker, director and an award-winning poet; Nicole is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in psychology at Smith College. Beginning in 2010, she launched and spoke at the first eating disorders seminar at LaGuardia High School, was invited to speak at the NYU Silver School of Social Work, as well as the School for Social Work at WNEC. A member on the national advisory committee and President of Smith’s own chapter, Nicole advocates for Active Minds, a national organization devoted to destigmatizing issues around mental health.

Diana Griffin, Operations Coordinator, is a graduate of The City College of New York with a BA in English Literature. She wrote a thesis on the haunted house as feminist space in the works of Shirley Jackson and worked as an Apple Specialist at Apple's Flagship Fifth Avenue store. She is an avid reader of science fiction and horror, a writer of short fiction and lives in Astoria, NY with her husband and two cats.

Izayah Freeman, Intern, was born in Brooklyn, NY, but reared in the Bronx. He attends Morehouse College where he is an Applied Physics Major with a Minor in English. He aspires to be at the forefront of a new study in physics: Electromechanics.

Sammi Greene, Intern, is a graduate of the 2012 senior class at Columbia High School and is enrolled at Lehigh University for the upcoming 4 years. Sammi took the Story To College class herself during the summer of 2011 and found it incredibly helpful, and can't wait to help other students. She has worked as an intern for Story To College since August of 2011, and is very excited to continue working with them this summer.

Simone Hill, Community Coordinator. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Simone attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. An Anthropology major at Princeton, this summer she interned at PlaySmart, helping to run academic and athletic camps for children in underserved areas. This is her second year with Story To College.

Matt Lebow, Intern, is currently a senior at Millburn High School and will be attending Lafayette College in the fall. He is involved with his local synagogue and a number of clubs at his high school, including Suits for Success and the Red Cross Club. At Lafayette, he intends to major in history.