BeSATwise Information

Gemma Nohilly, Program Director and a native of Ireland, immigrated to the U.S. and lived in Santa Monica before moving to Riverside. While living in Santa Monica, she taught Mathematics at St. Monica H.S. and SAT Math prep at UCLA in a joint program with Los Angeles USD. When her daughters were getting ready for college, she saw the crazy prices being charged for SAT prep and decided to bring an affordable SAT prep program to our area based on the UCLA model. She recruited two English teachers and started Be College Wise (now called Be SAT Wise) in the family garage. The Press Enterprise ran a big article on the program and it has expanded every year. As with most of our teachers, Mrs. Nohilly is still in the classroom and currently teaches Algebra II Hons and Calculus. At Rancho Verde HS. She has taught all levels of Math from Algebra 1 to Calculus. She earned her primary degree at Queens University in Belfast, Ireland and her Masters in Business Management at Cal. State, Northridge. As well as her administrative role, Mrs. Nohilly sometimes teaches math classes for Be SAT Wise. Ed immigrated to the USA from Galway, Ireland and earned a degree in History and Politics at Loyola University, Los Angeles. He taught History at St. Pauls HS in Whittier and later became a Farmers Insurance Agent. Ed returned to his true calling of education when he helped in the creation/administration of Be College Wise, now Be SAT Wise. John Rockwell is the co-founder of Be SAT Wise. He was one of the three teachers featured by the Press Enterprise when Be SAT Wise decided to fill the void and offer effective and affordable SAT Prep to ALL students regardless of income. John in consultation with his colleagues creates the English curriculum and trains any new English teachers who join the team. John Rockwell received his B.A. in English with an emphasis in Professional Writing from the University of Redlands and holds a Masters in Teaching from Chapman University. After college, John worked in the private sector managing a local ...