David Liu

Upon graduating from top elite liberal arts college in Beijing, David moved to the States and pursued a MBA degree from the business school of Columbia University, in addition to a Master of Computer Science from the University of South Dakota. With extended finance and tech-finance experience in the US and China, David has worked for Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank (China). He has also worked as chief operating officer of Group Operation and Technology in Shanghai, and directing roles of big corporate groups such as Fortune Fountain Capital, Gainfull Capital Group, New ERA Information Technology Co and Sun Growth Securities in Hong Kong. David was also the founder of the Columbia Business School Beijing Alumni Club and served as its first Chairman for 6 years.  He assisted the leadership at Columbia Global Center in Beijing and also served as the school's Admission Ambassador responsible for conducting in-person interviews with the applicants to Columbia University. In addition, he advises students in his spare time and strategically helps them gain admission to top tier universities and ivy league graduate programs. David is a fun loving guy who enjoys traveling and scuba diving. He has been to over 50 countries and scuba dived in 6 out of the 7 seas except the Arctic.

Alberto Milian

Alberto was born and raised in California, but moved to New York to complete his PhD at Cornell University, winning the prize for "Best Dissertation on Human Progress & Evolution of Civilization." Besides improving his research and writing skills, Alberto honed his teaching methodology as a teaching assistant and instructor at Cornell, where he taught for over five years. Alberto also mentored undergraduates campuswide. He then moved to Vancouver, where he has since advised high school students seeking entry into top-tier universities. His students have been admitted to and gone on to attend universities like Yale, Princeton, UC Berkeley, and NYU-Stern. At Five Summers he has helped students course plan; develop personally meaningful extracurricular activities; win recognition in contests like Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the Greater Vancouver Science Fair; and gain entry into notable summer programs such as UPenn-Wharton's Leadership in the Business World. In his spare time Alberto watches FC Barcelona soccer matches and listens to Bruce Springsteen.

Peter Morelli

Peter completed a Bachelor of Arts First Class Honors in English with a Major in Humanities at Simon Fraser University. He then continued on to graduate studies at the University of Cambridge in the UK, where he completed an MPhil in Eighteenth-Century and Romantic Studies and a PhD in English. Peter has taught in the English departments of both the University of Cambridge and Simon Fraser University, and the students he has worked with at Five Summers have gone on to study at Cambridge, Yale, Cornell, NYU Stern, Wharton, UC Berkeley, USC, the University of Chicago and other top institutions. Alongside teaching and advising at Five Summers, he also runs creative writing and contest workshops that have seen numerous students win recognition in international contests, such as the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the New York Times Student Contests. He has also helped students win national and international debate tournaments, and publish journals in Concord Review.

Born just outside of Vancouver in the small town of Mission, Peter spent his childhood years running around in the forests of northern British Columbia before finding his way back to Vancouver via the Okanagan. During his studies, Peter specializes in nineteenth-century British literature and politics, and in literary, critical and political theory and practice. When he isn't reading, writing or teaching, he can usually be found playing football (soccer) or hiking.

Evan Brown

Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, Evan studied English and Education at Stanford and Harvard Universities (BA 2006; MEd 2011). Evan’s passion for language and literature earned him admission to many top universities including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and UC Berkeley. He was awarded Stanford’s Intellectual Exploration Grant, which he used to conduct research abroad. During the interim between his undergraduate and graduate studies, Evan traveled and lived in Europe, Asia, and North America. He has taught high school English in the US and China. In the past few years, he has served as a college admissions coach. During his teaching and advising career, Evan has had the privilege of encountering many of today’s most exceptional and talented young minds, and he has helped them gain admission to their dream schools. He speaks fluent Chinese.

Aaron Yu

Mr. Yu has many years of experience in capital markets and investment management. Previously he has worked at Morgan Stanley Capital International as a consultant to hedge funds and bulge bracket banks. He has also took roles at Manulife Asset Management, where he helped investment team engaging in fixed income investment and risk analysis. Currently Mr. Yu works at a leading Canadian hedge fund with about $4 Billion AUM, focusing on portfolio management, strategy development, and asset allocation. Mr. Yu holds Master of Science in Mathematical Finance from University of Chicago, and Honors Bachelor’s Degree from University of British Columbia. He is a charter holder of CFA and FRM. In the past five years, Aaron has helped the students who are interested in business and finance get into the world top business schools. In 2020 Wharton Youth Investment Contest, the team he coached was selected to be the regional finalist. In his spare time Aaron enjoys reading and painting. He is also a sports lover, playing competitive badminton, golfing during summertime, and occasionally sailing with friends.

Jeff Guan

Jeff is a MIT graduate with a Master degree in Finance. He is also a CFA charter holder, with experience in credit analysis, corporate banking, and private equity jobs throughout the States. During his time in school, Jeff was a teaching assistant for multiple courses, helping students to reach their full potential. He also coaches high school students to help them navigate through school life as well as career planning. In addition, Jeff had abundant experiences participating in  business case competitions, where his team achieved as finalists. Jeff has lived in China, Canada, US, and has been to over 100 cities globally. He enjoys playing competitive ping-pong, badminton, occasional sailing and cross-country skiing with friends.

Allison Wattenbarger

Allison grew up in Philadelphia, where she stayed to attend the University of Pennsylvania for her B.A. She graduated magna cum laude from Penn with a major in English and a minor in Jewish Studies, and went on to receive her Master of Divinity, magna cum laude, from Duke University. Allison has lived and worked in Rome, Tunis, and Jerusalem as a programming coordinator and educator in the arts, refugee resettlement, religious life, adult education, and interfaith dialogue. Through her travels and degrees, she has studied French, German, Arabic, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Greek. Allison delights in teaching students of all ages to explore texts and to develop clear, thoughtful, and vibrant writing for academic, application, and professional settings.

Tom Douce

Born in Ohio, Tom split his childhood between Michigan and Ecuador. He attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a BS in Cell & Molecular Biology, with a minor in Philosophy, and a Masters in Biomedical Engineering. He went on to work as a researcher in the biotech industry in Salt Lake City, and in a bioengineering lab at MIT. A reflective type, Tom still wanted to develop in how he interpreted the human story and what it means for how we live. To this end, he came to Vancouver for graduate studies in theology at Regent College, where he has led tutorials in the history of Christianity. He feels called to help people learn and thrive in wholesome and meaningful lives, and plans to pursue a PhD in Psychology. Tom speaks Spanish and reads Biblical Hebrew. He enjoys unusual discussions, strategy board games, and writing poetry.

Gareth Anderson

Gareth holds his undergraduate degree in History and Literature (honours) from Harvard University, and his Master’s of Science in ‘Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe’ from the London School of Economics. From a young age, he had his academic sights set high: he wanted to study at a university abroad, one that offered a captivating and dynamic educational environment. With an outstanding academic profile, community service history and exceptional artistic/musical involvement, Gareth was accepted at Harvard University. During his time in Harvard, his passion for history flourished as he was able to incorporate his passion for the arts—music, theatre, film—into his studies of history. He was also inspired by the international community at Harvard, to create positive change in the world through education. Gareth has worked in many capacities as an instructor for students at various non-profit organizations and as a volunteer. For example, he has taught students of low-income in a Boston-based charity, and has had great experience in university academic circles. He looks forward to not only sharing his passion for history with students, but also in assisting high school students in their pursuits of studying at an elite university. In his spare time, he likes to compose and produce music, and worked as a music instructor for many years.

Alice Guo

Alice Guo graduated from Columbia University with a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development, and received her Bachelor’s degree in Finance from UBC Sauder School of. She has built more than 7 years of working experience in real estate finance, venture capital, and corporate innovation in the US, Canada and China. She currently works as the Technology Strategy & Planning manager at one of the biggest real estate companies in North America and supporting a variety of strategic efforts. In 2019, Alice co-founded UrbanLab, China’s first corporate PropTech Accelerator. Previously, she worked at Fifth Wall, the world’s biggest venture capital firm focuses on real estate technology, and at Trez Capital, a real estate private equity firm in Canada.

Alice was the provincial champion of one of the biggest public speaking competitions in China in high school, and actively competed in business case competitions during her studies. In 2018, she represented Columbia University to compete in a national case competition and won 3rd place. She has been involved in college consulting for 3 years now and has helped high school students get accepted into top American and Canadian universities, such as Cornell, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Georgetown, USC, among others. In her spare time, Alice enjoys spending time in the nature. She’s an avid skier and hiker. She also can’t wait to start travel again.

Kendra Yuan

Kendra grew up in Shanghai, China and has studied and lived in France, United States and Canada. After working as a HR in IBM, Kendra fell in love with psychology and got her certificate in counseling. Feeling called to help youth realize their potentials, she went on to study Developmental Psychology at University of Pennsylvania where she earned her Master Degree in 2016. Since then, she has been coaching youth for career and personal development, as well as college application and major selection in both the U.S and China. As someone who genuinely loves learning, Kendra enjoys designing learning experiences where magic happens through thoughtful design and peer learning. In her leisure time, you will find Kendra enjoying nature or being fascinated by people’s stories of how they got to where they are.

Patrick Grigg

Patrick completed his Master’s studies in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, while receiving a distinction for his Master’s thesis on the Ethics of Revolutionary Warfare. He has experience working as an academic tutor at residential colleges at the University of Melbourne, and as a private tutor/mentor for high school students in both the UK and Australia. Alongside his love of academia and teaching, Patrick is a passionate musician. He writes and performs as an electronic artist, and composes music for film.A keen soccer player, Patrick was also awarded a blue for his participation in the Varsity soccer match against Oxford.

Nuheen Khan

Nuheen graduated from Harvard Kennedy School with a Master in Public Administration in International Development degree in 2020. He is currently working as an Economics Instructor, alongside running his economics education business and a non-profit in Bangladesh, his home country. After completing his B.A in Economics  (First Class, Valedictorian) and M.A in Economics from UBC, Nuheen spent six years in Bangladesh building his nonprofit and working as an Economics Lecturer. Over his ten years of teaching experience across US, Canada and Bangladesh including his TA’ships at UBC and Harvard College, Nuheen has mentored and advised numerous students in their college and graduate school application. Nuheen is a Yayasan Khazanah Asia Global Scholar and the winner of a USD 156,000 grant from Bangladesh University Grants Commission.

Li Sha

Dr. Sha has a Ph.D. degree in Educational Psychology from SFU and a postdoc experience at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of AERA (American Educational Research Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and ISLS (International Society of Learning Sciences). As an educational psychologist, Dr. Sha was not only involved in many significant research projects conducted at SFU, University of Hong Kong, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of Pittsburgh but has also published a number of influential research articles in highly ranked peer-reviewed academic journals.  One of the focuses of his research was on parental influence on K-12 students’ self-regulation, motivation and achievement in learning. Apart from giving seminars/presentations to the Chinese community in his spare time,  Dr Sha’s individual consulting service on parenting as well as children’s psychological development and learning take up most of his time.  His expertise, professionalism and work ethic have been highly praised and appreciated by many Chinese parents and their children.

Michele Venetz

Michele is a dedicated teacher and coach who has taught English, creative writing, and tennis for many years. Michele earned her degree in English and Education from Columbia University. Michele has taught secondary school in New York City, where she also coached tennis and basketball. She was involved in a literacy program in Harlem, where she discussed life and literature with children, and worked to instill in them a love of learning. Upon returning to BC, Michele has been actively teaching, writing, and coaching. She has taught creative writing classes, and has fully realized the therapeutic benefits one receives from the simple act of writing. She is currently guiding students along their own educational paths, helping with standardized test preparation, and improving reading and writing skills. Michele still seems to find magic in words, and continues to share this discovery with her students. Michele has rich experience in college planning and advising. She is good at discovering students' interests and potentials, and has been a caring guide on the journey of many students to successfully get into their dream schools in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Le Tran

Le grew up in Oakland, California, and attended college at Brown University in Rhode Island. Since graduation, he has worked in social justice and education. Le has also lived in Vietnam, Spain, France, and South Africa for work and research. As a social studies teacher, Le's mission is to build platforms for youth empowerment and meaningful learning experiences. With a love for travel and adventure, Le has been to over 50 countries--and counting! Currently, Le is a teacher and college advisor to high school and college students in the Bay Area.

Houman Mehrabian

Houman earned his master's degree in English literature from the University of Tehran in 2012. He started his PhD studies at the University of Waterloo in 2013, and studied the history and theory of rhetoric. In 2017, he was honoured to receive the University of Waterloo’s award for exceptional teaching by a graduate student. Upon completing his doctoral dissertation, Houman moved to Vancouver to put his education and teaching experience to use in the beautiful British Columbia. Houman specializes in quickly assessing students' strengths and providing specific guidance to them through the university planning and advising programs at Five Summers. Under his caring and detailed guidance, students have achieved excellence in their academics and been better prepared for university.

Randip Bakshi

Born in Russia to Indian parents Randip has lived, studied and worked in India, Canada, and the United States. He studied the History of Art and Middle Eastern Studies at the universities of Toronto and Victoria. His interest in Islamic art and architecture coupled with his passion for Urdu and Persian literature led him to a doctoral program at the University of California, Berkeley. He has experience applying to and successfully being accepted into several top-ranked universities in Canada and the United States. He currently teaches Asian art to post-secondary students and is preparing to start the Bachelor of Education program at the University of British Columbia in the fall. In his spare time, Randip enjoys cooking and miniature painting. He also hopes to be fully proficient in French by the end of the year."     

Jessie Booth

Jessie was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her deep love of travel and learning has led her to study micro-finance in West Africa, ecology in the Appalachian Mountains, and civil rights in the American South. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Environmental Studies with emphasis on sustainable development, ecology, and environmental justice. An avid city-dweller, she is interested in sustainable urban development and design of public space. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. Before returning to school, she was the development operations manager at the Nature Conservancy in California, a global environmental organization.

Angela Steele

Angela was born in Phillipsburg, NJ and now lives in Oakland, CA. She attended public schools for 17 years and enrolled at Phillips Academy Andover for her final year of high school. She went on to Stanford University, where she majored in Cultural and Social Anthropology with a concentration on Mandarin and Chinese Popular Culture. Enrolling in Chinese on a whim freshman year, Angela never knew it would lead to years of study and a lifetime’s worth of adventures. On her first trip to China in 2004, Angela befriended many urban artists, dancers and musicians and wrote her undergraduate thesis on Hip Hop in Beijing. Angela was the MVP of Stanford’s 2006 National Championship Women’s Rugby Team. As a 2007-2008 Fulbright Scholar, Angela documented Hip Hop culture in 13 Chinese cities. Angela is currently the Operations Manager of a student travel company.

Jessica Gordon

Jessica is originally from Miami, Florida. She graduated from Brown University, where she majored in International Development, focusing on Latin America and China. Jessica has previously lived in China where she travelled across the country, took an in depth study of the Chinese language, and took part in Jingdezhen pottery workshop design. Recently, she was involved in energy research with Oxfam's Beijing office. Jessica is a passionate environmentalist and loves art, animals, and travelling. Currently, she is pursuing a master's degree in Environmental Science at Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is experienced in directing US and Chinese students apply for undergraduate and graduate institutions, and have succeeded in helping her students get accepted into their ideal American university.