angelica

Angelica Harris
Founder of the Excalibur Reading Program

A youth advocate, professional writer, public speaker, and published author. Harris holds many awards and citations for her work in the community from the City of NY; on the Counsel levels, from Elizabeth Crowley, on the State Level from Senator Joseph Addabbo; and from the Royal People Group and Congress from Congressman Gregory Meeks, for her work in public service, and for working with domestic and sexual abuse organizations to bring awareness to the issues against woman and children. She is a member of IVAT(Institute on Violence Abuse and Trauma,) NPEIV(National Partnership on Education for Interpersonal Violence), and a speaker for RAINN(Rape Abuse Incest National Network.) She is also a Certified LGBTQIA Ally through Fordham University.

Ms. Harris worked for District Attorney Richard Brown under ADA Director Gail Giordano, as a jurist panelist for teens who were incarcerated, and mentored them through Excalibur. She helped many teens stay out of the system and has a track record for seeing these socially challenged youths both become readjusted to society and go on to college and the military. She is an Arthurian Folklore Historian and a Titanic Historian and has written books on these topics. Currently, she is a board member for the TSAC (Titanic Society of Atlantic Canada) and a member of the TIS (Titanic International Society.) Angelica herself, is a student at Fordham University in Lincoln Center in The School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

A professional writer for 30 years, Angelica has written and published 8 books on various topics.She enjoys helping aspiring writers in developing story and professional content. Angelica particularly enjoys working with students and adults alike to create content on essay and college writing and with their research, book reports, and personal essays for college applications. She will be teaching tutorials in APA and MLA format.

james

James Webster De Martini
English Language Arts Teacher

James has earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, 1978; Masters Degrees in Linguistics(1986) and Classics(1991) from New York University; Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language from Columbia University, 2007. He has taught Writing Academic English at the New York Institute of Technology, and ESL at the College of Mount St Vincent. An enthusiastic thespian, De Martini has appeared on many stages and in many roles: from Aeschylus and Aristophanes to Shakespeare, and from Shakespeare to Aurther Mortenson, Helen Duberstein, and Daniel Fernandez. He is a poet and a published author with a chapbook, The Song of Abel, in print. He has been the Director of the New York Poetry Forum since June 2017. James has been a proud member of the Excalibur team since late 2016. His specialties are Writing (all grades); reading (all grades); mathematics (grades 1 to 7); Children’s Theater; Voice Over/Narration. He is honored to work with young people. Mr. De Martini has been a teacher with Excalibur for the past 4 years.

tom

Thomas Schirling
Everything Math Related

Thomas graduated from Cooper Union with a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering. Earned a Master’s Degree in Secondary Math Education from St. John’s University. Mr. Schirling taught middle school math for the NYC DOE for 10 years. Tutoring experience gained from employment with Kaplan. Mr. Schirling also assists with SAT, SHSAT, and TACHS preparatory.

andrea

Andrea LoCascio
Social Worker in the Glendale Queens Area.

Andrea, holds a Master of Social Work from Fordham University, and a Bachelor of Science in Psych-Bio from Long Island University. Currently, she works with individuals, student groups, and families. She is also a writer and co-founder of Binge on This, a blog for mental health education with a focus on eating disorders. Her clinical training includes a Graduate Internship at University Settlement, counseling, case management, and school preparation for children under three-years-old and their families. She completed a graduate internship at Urban Assembly, working with ninth-grade students. This included one-on-one counseling and group mediation meetings. She also developed a support group curriculum and helped further develop the school’s social-emotional learning program. She has experience in one-on-one tutoring, mentoring, and counseling, including working with students with multiple learning and behavioral disorders.

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Gaby Hatzopoulos
High School and College Advisor

Gaby was born and raised in Glendale, NY. She earned both her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and her Master’s in School Counseling at CUNY Hunter College. She is a first-generation American and the first in her family to earn a college degree. She is passionate about the college process and strives to be a dynamic college advisor for those, in the neighborhood she still calls home.

Ms. Hatzopoulos’ role in the Excalibur program will be to implement programs that would assist students with every part of the application process, through either one-on-one counseling or workshops. This would include:

  • Understanding college terminology (“what is SUNY/CUNY/FAFSA/Early Action/Early Decision/etc.)
  • Using career interest inventories to help them assess potential areas of career interest
  • Assisting students in filing their CUNY/SUNY/private school applications
  • Assisting in completing FAFSA/TAP/CSS profiles
  • Assisting with essay writing (which is now more crucial than ever due to schools not requiring SATs this year due to COVID), resume writing and college interviews
  • Ensuring that students understand the timeline for what they should be doing during their junior and senior years.
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Erin Watkins
Youth Leader and Jack of all Trades,

Erin, is a former student of the Excalibur Reading Program. She is now a student at Queens Metro High School and is holding an Honors Standing. Erin has come back to Excalibur to not only give back to her community but to help lead our Youth Group. She is the student assistant to Excalibur’s President Angelica Harris, and it was her vision that designed our COVID-19 classroom setting. She is a Cheer Coach at Sacred Heart School.