About US
College admissions counselors who prioritize you and your goals.
At Educational Advocates, we empower students like you to maximize your potential in college admissions. Our expert team offers personalized strategies, insider knowledge, and unwavering support. Let our best college admissions consultants guide you on your path to college success.
Meet Our Team
Joan Casey
Founder/President
Founder/President
Joan Casey
Joan helps students develop the mindsets that allow them to create the life they want–for high school, college and beyond. She founded Educational Advocates College Consulting in 2004, and works with a wide range of high school and transfer students who are considering colleges at all levels of selectivity throughout the USA, Canada and Western Europe. She also provides services for prospective college athletes and visual and performing artists. Joan is committed to her students and her priority is to help them achieve their goals through a supportive and thoughtful approach.
Joan also has expertise in working with adolescents with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning differences and those with therapeutic needs. She has completed an advocacy-training program sponsored by the Federation for Children with Special Needs and is trained in AD/HD coaching through the American Coaching Association. Joan is a certified educational planner, signifying that she has achieved the highest level of professional standards in the field of educational consulting, a distinction held by only 25 percent of consultants. She is a professional member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) where she previously chaired the learning disability committee, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA).
She serves on the undergraduate economics advisory board for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Joan, along with a group of colleagues, won the IECA Katz award in recognition of pro bono work for The Possibility Project. She earned a master of education degree in Mind, Brain and Education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and holds a BA in economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Prior to founding Educational Advocates, Joan had a 20-year career as a marketing and public relations consultant, working for a national public relations firm and managing her own consulting practice. She has received several marketing and writing awards, and applies the creative-thinking strategies used in her marketing career in advising students on their essays, overall presentation, and interviewing skills. Joan resides in Brookline, Massachusetts and is the mother of two now grown sons who attended both independent and public schools before college. When not meeting with students and families, you might find her cooking, reading, running or meditating.
Ildiko Szekely
College Consultant
College Consultant
Ildiko Szekely
Ildi Szekely has extensive experience in teaching, advising, and helping students transition into the rigorous academic collegiate environment. For more than a decade, Ildi has been a teacher, academic advisor, academic coach, and learning disability specialist. Ildi’s passion is education; she thrives when she is around students, both as an educator and as a person. Throughout her career in education, Ildi has learned the importance of fostering a culture that is caring, inclusive, positive and hands-on.
Prior to joining EA, Ildi was the Assistant Director at the Connors Family Learning Center at Boston College. Her role was to provide specialized academic support for students with learning disabilities and ADHD. Additionally, she served as an academic advisor for freshmen and oversaw the academic coaching program, which was designed to assist students in developing their own study skills, strategies, and systems of self-regulation to become engaged and successful learners. Ildi also has experience as a Language Arts High School Teacher in both the public and private school sectors.
Ildi was recruited to swim at Michigan State University from Mercersburg Academy. She was a team captain, Academic All-Big-10, and held school records in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly, as well as the 400-yard IM. She still ranks among the top 10 in program history for all these events.
Ildi earned her B.A. in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies, and went on to receive her M.A. in Education, as well as a Secondary English Teaching Credential from UC Berkeley. She also holds a Certificate in Special Education from Boston College.
Ildi is still an avid swimmer. She was recently inducted to New England Local Masters Swimming Committee Hall of Fame for her outstanding pool performances. Her recent swimming resume includes several Swimming World Masters and National Masters Championship titles.
Katie Bacon
COLLEGE CONSULTANT & WRITING SPECIALIST
College Consultant/Writing Specialist
Katie Bacon
Katie Bacon enjoys working with students to help them figure out colleges that are a good fit for who they are and who they hope to be. She is an experienced writer, editor, and interviewer who worked for The Atlantic in Boston for ten years before the magazine moved to Washington, DC.
She has written everything from profiles to personal essays to reviews to scientific critiques, and her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and Harvard’s Ed. magazine, among other places. Katie brings her skills to her work as a college consultant and writing specialist at Educational Advocates. She specializes in helping writers find their voice by expressing themselves clearly, logically, and eloquently. She genuinely loves talking with students and asking questions as a way to help them figure out and showcase their strengths and interests.
Katie holds a certificate in college counseling from UCLA Extension, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst College, where she majored in American studies.
Katie lives in Brookline, MA with her family. She is on the Board of Overseers of the Brookline Education Foundation, where she supervised their grants and programs for four years. She volunteers for Beacon Academy, coaching Greater Boston students through the application process for independent schools as a way to help close the opportunity gap, and is on the board of the Brookline Food Pantry. She loves reading both fiction and nonfiction, playing tennis and pickleball, and hiking with her family and their dog.
Laurel Weijer
College Consultant
College Consultant
Laurel Weijer
Laurel Weijer is an experienced teacher, counselor and admissions professional who has worked in both secondary and higher education for more than a decade. She is passionate about helping students grow throughout the college admissions process, tell their own unique stories, and find the right college fit. She has experience working with students from a variety of backgrounds as well as students with language-based learning differences. She believes that great college counseling is not only about results but also about building strong relationships with the student and their family to help everyone involved in the process navigate this important life step with confidence.
Laurel holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University of Chicago and a Master of Arts in Nonfiction Writing from Johns Hopkins University. She is an award-winning writer and editor whose work has been recognized by organizations including the University of Chicago, the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals, the Public Relations Society of America and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.
Laurel began her career in the University of Chicago’s career advising center before transitioning into secondary education at a private school in Baltimore, Maryland. While working as a communications professional, she also served as an advisor for high school students and a journalism teacher.
Her communications and advocacy skills, combined with her love of working with students, made a transition to full-time college counseling a natural fit, and she was lucky to land her dream job working as a college counselor at a private Catholic school in Baltimore.
When Laurel’s husband was offered a faculty position at the University of Florida, she took the opportunity to transition to a position in the UF admissions office to learn more about the other side of the admissions process. As an assistant director of admissions, Laurel’s responsibilities included managing a large recruiting territory, reviewing thousands of applications, and sitting on the decisions committee for more than 52,000 applicants.
Laurel lives in Westchester, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children. When not working with students and families, she enjoys bicycling, spending time with her children, drinking great coffee, and exploring all that the Greater Philadelphia area has to offer.
Dr. Kerra Gazerro
Graduate School Advisor/Writing Specialist
Graduate School Advisor/Writing Specialist
Dr. Kerra Gazerro
Dr. Kerra Lynn Gazerro has a twenty-five year career in higher education. Currently an Instructional Designer at Johnson and Wales University, she works with faculty to design engaging online courses. Formerly a Visiting Assistant Professor of Italian Studies at Wheaton College in Norton, MA, she earned her PhD in Italian from the University of Chicago. In addition to teaching language classes, Kerra directed writing-intensive courses across the curriculum, including First-Year Experience.
Kerra also routinely served as a faculty advisor. She feels privileged to have guided students through the nuances of college curricula from course selection through degree fulfillment.
When mentoring students, she showed them how to craft their own scholastic narratives by dovetailing academic concentration with extracurricular interest and talent.
Beyond her teaching and instructional design experience, Kerra has worked for several scholastic learning companies including Pearson, Duolingo and LingroLearning. Kerra is also a specialist in Medieval women’s spirituality and frequently attends professional conferences and publishes in her field.
When she isn’t engaged in academic projects, Kerra is an avid bread baker, a passion she developed while living in Italy. Kerra credits her disciplined nature to her training as a ballerina and competitive dancer and she still enjoys attending artistic performances. Kerra makes her home in Rhode Island.
David Cataruzolo
Athletic Consultant
Athletic Consultant
David Cataruzolo
David Cataruzolo, a native of Watertown, Massachusetts, brings over 20 years of experience helping students navigate the athletic recruiting process. Dave served as an assistant professor of physical education at Trinity College for over 13 years where he spent time as the head men’s ice hockey coach and assistant coach/recruiting coordinator for the Bantam Baseball team. In his time at Trinity, the hockey team won 2 NESCAC Championships and reached the NCAA Final Four in 2003, while the baseball team won three league titles earning two trips to the Division 3 World Series. Dave has also worked in the athletic department at Harvard University as director of hockey operations directing the day-to-day operations of the Crimson men’s and women’s Division 1 ice hockey programs.
Dave graduated from Bowdoin College, class of 1998, with a degree in government and legal studies, and earned a master’s degree in public policy from Trinity College in 2001. While at Bowdoin, he captained both the hockey and baseball teams. He is a member of both Bowdoin’s 100-point club on the ice (126) and 100-hit club (128) on the diamond.
Emma Mazzarelli
Office and Communications Coordinator
Office Coordinator
Emma Mazzarelli
Emma Mazzarelli is Educational Advocates’ office coordinator and a resource to clients throughout their working relationship with the practice. She has spent the last five years working in administrative and executive assistant roles where she has developed core competencies in social media marketing, blog post and Pinterest management, customer service, and work management platforms.
In her most recent roles, Emma has contributed to the growth and success of her employers by generating new leads, increasing user retention, and enhancing brand awareness and reputation.
Emma brings diverse perspectives and experiences to the team as she has worked in different industries such as education and hospitality, and with different clients such as children, families, and influencers. She is eager to learn new skills and take on new challenges and is always looking for opportunities to improve and optimize her work processes and outcomes.
Emma lives in Milford, MA where she plays lots of fetch with her new puppy, watches way too much “Friends,” and spends as much time as she can with family. If you call the office or send in an email, she looks forward to giving you a warm welcome!
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Begin your journey by scheduling a consultation with a college admissions expert.
