About Us
Our Story
After decades of coaching high school and college students, Rita Thompson created the ideal collegiate resource for students who want higher grades with less stress. Offering a variety of resources for high school and college students, Black Dog Scholars LLC is the place for students who want to excel in academics.
Your education is worth it.
We believe all students can benefit from academic coaching.
Your education is worth it.
Using the science of psychology and neuroscience, we give college students the brain-based strategies and techniques for academic success.
We make these resources affordable and accessible to college students around the globe.
Affordable
Our online courses and memberships are excellent investments in your education.
Cutting-edge
Learn proven techniques for improving your ability to learn in your college courses and prepare for high stakes exams.
Highly Skilled
We teach you what works. We've excelled in competitive college programs, and we'll help you, too.
Rita Thompson, J.D., M.S.Ed, is an attorney, reading specialist, and a National Board Certified Teacher with over two decades of experience working with students. Over two thousand students have sat in her classroom, and dozens have been tutored by her for high stakes exams. Thompson is a graduate of the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, and Northern Illinois University. Rita has been awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Education award and the Principal’s Award, and has presented at teaching conferences.
Holly Gildea is a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at UC Berkeley. Her thesis work, for which she was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the National Institutes on Aging Predoctoral Transition Award (F99/K00), focuses on the communication of cellular stress in the brain and root causes of dementia. She is currently completing her Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. UC Berkeley has given Holly the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award and the Teaching Effectiveness Award for her work teaching undergraduates. Holly’s interest in the neurobiology of learning and memory originated in her undergraduate work and research at Brown University, in which she investigated the impacts of metacognition on student performance in neuroscience courses.
Kayomi Hirano is a math educator currently finishing her dual bachelor’s/master’s program in mathematics education with an emphasis on secondary education at Loyola University of Chicago. Kayomi’s extensive coursework and her approachable personality make her a popular tutor in the Chicago area, working with students from middle school through college. We recently lured her away from her other responsibilities, and we are delighted to have our clients work with her.