Our Lady of Good Counsel is proud to introduce you to its team of Tutors. All OLGC tutors are practicing Catholics, faithful to the Magisterium. Each tutor is experienced in the subject(s) he/she teaches through career experience, classroom teaching, and/or educational background.
Interested in becoming an OLGC tutor? Please scroll to the bottom for more information.
Interested in becoming an OLGC tutor? Please scroll to the bottom for more information.
Deacon Steve Dixon
Deacon Steve Dixon was born in Wichita Falls, Tx in 1960.
Deacon Steve and his wife Cheryl have been married for 38 years. They have three children and three grandchildren. After graduating high school in Kilgore, Texas, Steve joined the U.S. Navy and served in the submarine fleet for six years. He worked at Comanche Peak Nuclear Station for 34 years in the Chemistry, Training and Licensing departments. Steve converted to the Catholic faith in 1996 at St. Frances Cabrini parish in Granbury. After several years of discernment, Steve entered Deacon Formation in 2015 and was ordained August 10, 2020. He was assigned to St. Stephen parish in Weatherford for two years after ordination. Deacon Steve is assigned and serves at Holy Redeemer parish in Aledo.
Deacon Steve has been tutoring for OLGC since 2020.
Deacon Steve and his wife Cheryl have been married for 38 years. They have three children and three grandchildren. After graduating high school in Kilgore, Texas, Steve joined the U.S. Navy and served in the submarine fleet for six years. He worked at Comanche Peak Nuclear Station for 34 years in the Chemistry, Training and Licensing departments. Steve converted to the Catholic faith in 1996 at St. Frances Cabrini parish in Granbury. After several years of discernment, Steve entered Deacon Formation in 2015 and was ordained August 10, 2020. He was assigned to St. Stephen parish in Weatherford for two years after ordination. Deacon Steve is assigned and serves at Holy Redeemer parish in Aledo.
Deacon Steve has been tutoring for OLGC since 2020.
Mrs. Jeannine Gappa
Growing up, I never understood English grammar nor could diagram a sentence until I took Latin. Only then did English finally make sense! Latin was the source of my “light bulb” moments for vocabulary, grammar, spelling, writing, and logic. Because of my own experience, I knew that Latin would be an integral part of my children’s studies. To this day, the benefits of studying this language permeates throughout every one of their subjects making it one of my most valued subjects for them. I have been teaching and tutoring Latin since 2012 for my own children and in co-op settings. Does it take work? Yes, anything “worth it” does! Is your child capable of learning Latin? Yes, I haven’t met one yet who couldn’t. Can you help your child, no matter what your background in Latin may be? Yes, that is why I use a curriculum with readily-available answer keys. You can even learn along with your child or, more simply, just follow the easy answer keys. I am excited to help your student embark on a journey that will open up a world of academic opportunities for him/her!
A bit about me: Although I grew up Roman Catholic, my family became familiar with the Eastern Catholic/Byzantine form of worship in 2020. We now belong to the Melkite Greek Catholic Outreach of DFW. My husband and I married in 1999 and have four children. We have homeschooled since 2007 with two still at home and two in college: University of Mary and Benedictine College. Outside of schooling, I love spending time with my family and friends, parish events, game nights, cooking, playing piano, celebrating my Lebanese heritage, and helping my husband with his glassblowing business. I also have a bizarre penchant for spreadsheets and databases. 😊
Mrs. Gappa has been tutoring for OLGC since 2018.
A bit about me: Although I grew up Roman Catholic, my family became familiar with the Eastern Catholic/Byzantine form of worship in 2020. We now belong to the Melkite Greek Catholic Outreach of DFW. My husband and I married in 1999 and have four children. We have homeschooled since 2007 with two still at home and two in college: University of Mary and Benedictine College. Outside of schooling, I love spending time with my family and friends, parish events, game nights, cooking, playing piano, celebrating my Lebanese heritage, and helping my husband with his glassblowing business. I also have a bizarre penchant for spreadsheets and databases. 😊
Mrs. Gappa has been tutoring for OLGC since 2018.
Mrs. Carolyn Goodman
I'm Carolyn Goodman and my husband and I have been married for 20 years. We have eight children (three enrolled at OLGC), and are parishioners at St. Thomas Becket Catholic Church in Fort Worth. I was born and raised in Louisiana, and have lived in the Keller area since 2007. My Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing provides a strong science knowledge base that will serve me well as the Biology tutor this year. I started homeschooling in 2012 when our oldest child, (and now our first high school graduate) started kindergarten, and have continued to do so with each of our children as our family has grown. As a family, we enjoy spending quality time with family and friends, supporting our kiddos' extracurricular activities (choir, baseball, softball), cooking, tackling never-ending DIY projects, embracing our Louisiana heritage, and of course cheering for the LSU Fighting Tigers!
Mrs. Goodman has been tutoring for OLGC since 2023.
Mrs. Goodman has been tutoring for OLGC since 2023.
Mrs. Emily Hebda
Hello! My name is Emily Hebda. My husband, Jon, and I have been married for 20 years. We live in Keller with our five children who range in age from 18 to 5! I have homeschooled our children since the beginning.
I graduated from Texas Woman's University with a BS in English Literature and have worked in education for over 20 years. While my earliest years in education were spent with preschool and elementary aged children, I have spent most of that time teaching high school History, English, and Religion in a Classical, hybrid model academy.
In my free time, I enjoy reading, running outside, and spending time with my family. I am so grateful to Jesus for calling me to our Catholic faith 20 years ago and am humbled every day to be able to teach my own children and the students in my classrooms about the love Jesus has for us!
Mrs. Hebda has been tutoring for OLGC since 2023.
I graduated from Texas Woman's University with a BS in English Literature and have worked in education for over 20 years. While my earliest years in education were spent with preschool and elementary aged children, I have spent most of that time teaching high school History, English, and Religion in a Classical, hybrid model academy.
In my free time, I enjoy reading, running outside, and spending time with my family. I am so grateful to Jesus for calling me to our Catholic faith 20 years ago and am humbled every day to be able to teach my own children and the students in my classrooms about the love Jesus has for us!
Mrs. Hebda has been tutoring for OLGC since 2023.
Mrs. Heather Hill
After earning a degree in Secondary English Education from Louisiana State University, I taught in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD for over 5 years. I then became a Stay-at-home mom and have been homeschooling for 19 years. During that time, I have developed and taught several courses for different co-ops, tailoring the classes to the needs of my students. Our family has been a part of OLGC for 9 years. I have developed and taught 5 English courses for OLGC, and have been a tutor for 6 years.
It is truly a gift to read something written so far from our time or place and be moved by it, because it speaks so clearly to our souls. That is why I enjoy the stories that different cultures and civilizations tell, especially those that make their way around the world to stand the test of time. I also enjoy the challenge in sharing those incredible stories with my students and in helping them to foster a love of reading.
Mrs. Hill has been tutoring for OLGC since 2019.
It is truly a gift to read something written so far from our time or place and be moved by it, because it speaks so clearly to our souls. That is why I enjoy the stories that different cultures and civilizations tell, especially those that make their way around the world to stand the test of time. I also enjoy the challenge in sharing those incredible stories with my students and in helping them to foster a love of reading.
Mrs. Hill has been tutoring for OLGC since 2019.
Mrs. Michelle Klash
After earning my bachelor's degree in Economics at the University of Dallas, I continued schooling part time to earn an MBA in Corporate Finance while working full time. I worked in banking and technology before managing treasury operations in the natural gas industry. After several years and deciding to leave corporate life, I started and ran a successful consulting company assisting small businesses with their back office operations. In the early days of the business, I used substitute teaching to help supplement income while building up clients. Once our family began, however, I left the clients behind and became a stay-at-home mom to three wonderful children who are now 17, 15, and 12. I began homeschooling when my oldest was 4 and have taught in other co-ops a few different subjects from history and geography to elementary science. I am excited to now be developing a course in my favorite subject, economics.
My husband and I have been married for 18 years. We attend St. Ann’s in Burleson where I am employed part-time as the OCIA coordinator and where I volunteer teaching youth faith formation for Confirmed teens. I converted to Catholicism in 1993 and have been mentoring and teaching RCIA/OCIA candidates for over 20 years. I have also taught Children’s, Youth, and Adult faith formation classes for nearly 15 years.
Mrs. Klash has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
My husband and I have been married for 18 years. We attend St. Ann’s in Burleson where I am employed part-time as the OCIA coordinator and where I volunteer teaching youth faith formation for Confirmed teens. I converted to Catholicism in 1993 and have been mentoring and teaching RCIA/OCIA candidates for over 20 years. I have also taught Children’s, Youth, and Adult faith formation classes for nearly 15 years.
Mrs. Klash has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
Mrs. Amanda Madl
Hello! My name is Amanda Madl. My husband Mike and I have been married for 21 years with two children: one in college at the university of Tulsa and one in high school at Nolan Catholic. We have lived in the Keller area since 2012 and are parishioners of Good Shepherd Catholic Community.
I graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree und Mechanical Engineering. I began my career in Project Management for ConocoPhillips in Houston, TX. I left COP in 2011 to stay home with our two children. I have spent 10 years teaching in the Diocese of Fort Worth as a middle school math and science teacher first at St. John the Apostle and then at St. George.
Outside of the classroom, I enjoy being my children's biggest fan in all the sports and activities they have participated in over the years. Mike and I enjoy traveling, reading, sports, and volunteering in our school and parish communities.
I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for math and science with the OLGC students through the middle school ICP class and the high school physics course.
Mrs. Madl has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
I graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree und Mechanical Engineering. I began my career in Project Management for ConocoPhillips in Houston, TX. I left COP in 2011 to stay home with our two children. I have spent 10 years teaching in the Diocese of Fort Worth as a middle school math and science teacher first at St. John the Apostle and then at St. George.
Outside of the classroom, I enjoy being my children's biggest fan in all the sports and activities they have participated in over the years. Mike and I enjoy traveling, reading, sports, and volunteering in our school and parish communities.
I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for math and science with the OLGC students through the middle school ICP class and the high school physics course.
Mrs. Madl has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
Mrs. Allison Makus
I fell in love with teaching the summer after graduating high school, when I spent six weeks teaching English as a second language in rural Costa Rica and discovered that the time I spent in the classroom was the highlight of each day. Four years later, I graduated from the University of Dallas with degrees in Spanish and Interdisciplinary Studies, and spent the next six years teaching in Irving ISD.
I have been immensely blessed to be able to stay home with my four children as our family has grown, and have homeschooled all four beginning in kindergarten. Throughout the years I have been at home, I have taught various classes through the St Elizabeth Ann Seton co-op (now GKC-HSG), as well as served as a leader for American Heritage Girls in Keller for the past 9 years.
My husband and I have been married 17 years and are active parishioners at St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church in Roanoke. I am so thankful that my family has been able to be a part of OLGC for the past three years, and am excited to step into the classroom this year as the Earth Science tutor. I strongly believe that learning occurs best when it is meaningful, hands-on, and engaging - all things that are especially possible in a science classroom. I am looking forward to working with this year's group of students and facilitating their exploration of God's creation and the workings of the world he has given us.
Mrs. Makus has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
I have been immensely blessed to be able to stay home with my four children as our family has grown, and have homeschooled all four beginning in kindergarten. Throughout the years I have been at home, I have taught various classes through the St Elizabeth Ann Seton co-op (now GKC-HSG), as well as served as a leader for American Heritage Girls in Keller for the past 9 years.
My husband and I have been married 17 years and are active parishioners at St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church in Roanoke. I am so thankful that my family has been able to be a part of OLGC for the past three years, and am excited to step into the classroom this year as the Earth Science tutor. I strongly believe that learning occurs best when it is meaningful, hands-on, and engaging - all things that are especially possible in a science classroom. I am looking forward to working with this year's group of students and facilitating their exploration of God's creation and the workings of the world he has given us.
Mrs. Makus has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
Rev. Marc Mallick
Fr. Mallick was profoundly affected and formed within a close family unit where the Catholic Faith and Lebanese heritage were of the greatest importance. Second, it was his four-year experience at Magdalen College where he earned his Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree and Pontifical Catechetical Diploma. The College’s unique approach to education followed the dictum of Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Upon graduation, Fr. Mallick had the opportunity to live and study abroad in Mexico, Spain and Italy before returning to the United States where he earned his Pontifical Bachelor of Arts in Sacred Theology and a Master of Divinity at St John Theological Seminary in Denver, CO. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2005. After serving seven years as pastor in Boulder, CO Father took a sabbatical to earn his Master of Arts in Liturgical Studies. During that time he discovered his own family religious tradition: the Antiochian Church. After much exploration, prayer and study he requested to transfer to his Church of origin, the Melkites. In 2020, he was granted permission to return home to Fort Worth and begin a Melkite Catholic Outreach in the DFW metroplex.
To the classroom, Father Mallick brings a unique and distinct pedagogy learned at Magdalen College. The threefold educational mission of Magdalen was: 1) to unmask the opinions and beliefs that are peculiar to the post-modern era; 2) to demonstrate the connectedness of things; 3) to ground the odyssey toward the good life in those universal experiences that are common to all human persons. The educational mission was accomplished by use of the Socratic seminar method, where the student would learn to reason, analyze, synthesize, and assess opinions and grasp truths by engaging with his or her fellow learners in dialogue with the masters of orderly thought. As a collegial body, the students who take a course with Father Mallick should be prepared to engage some of the greatest thinkers and writers in human history in order to be challenged on the odyssey toward the good life. The course will prove to be, "engaging, interesting, and challenging."
Fr. Mallick has been tutoring for OLGC since 2020.
To the classroom, Father Mallick brings a unique and distinct pedagogy learned at Magdalen College. The threefold educational mission of Magdalen was: 1) to unmask the opinions and beliefs that are peculiar to the post-modern era; 2) to demonstrate the connectedness of things; 3) to ground the odyssey toward the good life in those universal experiences that are common to all human persons. The educational mission was accomplished by use of the Socratic seminar method, where the student would learn to reason, analyze, synthesize, and assess opinions and grasp truths by engaging with his or her fellow learners in dialogue with the masters of orderly thought. As a collegial body, the students who take a course with Father Mallick should be prepared to engage some of the greatest thinkers and writers in human history in order to be challenged on the odyssey toward the good life. The course will prove to be, "engaging, interesting, and challenging."
Fr. Mallick has been tutoring for OLGC since 2020.
Mrs. Christie Meldrum
For the past twenty-six years, Christie Meldrum is a convert to Catholicism and a wife of twenty-two years, a mother for twenty one years. Coop class instruction includes a History of Saints, Sign Language and Anatomy and Physiology with the science rotation.
Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN) obtained from Middle Tennessee State University in December of 1992. Nursing experience includes Telemetry, Critical Care, Home Health, Cath Lab, Rehab, and Pain Care. Emphasis in nursing has been cardiology and geriatrics with a history of neurology.
Her interest in sign language occurred during her Freshman year at Middle Tennessee State University with SEE ( Signing exact English) as an alternative way to communicate before the removal of a second brain tumor in 1987. She has used sign language in her nursing career and in raising her children from birth to teenage years and continues to do so.
Mrs. Meldrum has been tutoring for OLGC since 2018.
Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN) obtained from Middle Tennessee State University in December of 1992. Nursing experience includes Telemetry, Critical Care, Home Health, Cath Lab, Rehab, and Pain Care. Emphasis in nursing has been cardiology and geriatrics with a history of neurology.
Her interest in sign language occurred during her Freshman year at Middle Tennessee State University with SEE ( Signing exact English) as an alternative way to communicate before the removal of a second brain tumor in 1987. She has used sign language in her nursing career and in raising her children from birth to teenage years and continues to do so.
Mrs. Meldrum has been tutoring for OLGC since 2018.
Mrs. Brittany Velasquez
I am passionate about reading and writing not only as a necessity for academic success but also as a means to bring us closer to holiness. Stories teach us empathy. They allow us to see the world through someone else’s perspective. This empathy teaches us to love more fully—as God intended. I am so excited to have a chance to teach writing (and grammar because I am a grammar NERD) at OLGC. I received my B.A.E. in 2005 from Arizona State University. The next day, I married my husband, Alfred. We started traveling the world with his career in the Air Force almost immediately. We have three amazing children. In 2020, I earned my M.A. in English Literature from UT Tyler. It hasn’t proven to be incredibly useful as of yet, but if anyone wants to sit down and do some deep dives on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, I am here for you. I taught in public schools in Arizona before my children were born, and, more recently, I taught middle school grammar and composition at a local Catholic school. We have been homeschooling since 2021, and we attend Good Shepherd Catholic Community. I feel so blessed and humbled to have an opportunity to teach again while still being able to spend time with my own children.
Mrs. Velasquez has been tutoring for OLGC since 2022.
Mrs. Velasquez has been tutoring for OLGC since 2022.
Mrs. Teresa West
Mrs. West fulfills her primary vocation as wife to Mr. West and mother to their three adopted children. She is delighted to be able to homeschool her children and tend to their home!
Mrs. West graduated from the University of Dallas with a Bachelor's in Theology. She spent the next 11 years teaching students ranging from Kindergarten to 11th grade at 5 different schools mostly in DFW. She has spent 5 of those years teaching Theology at Catholic diocesan schools, 3 years with junior high and 2 years at the high school level. Mrs. West has developed courses and created curriculum based on her own liberal arts education and passion for Theology. She loves answering her student's questions and helping them form their own personal prayer lives.
Mrs. West was overjoyed when she saw the opening at OLGC for a middle school Theology tutor and she greatly looks forward to returning to the classroom teaching what she loves the most and still being able to be the primary educator for her own children.
Mrs. West has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
Mrs. West graduated from the University of Dallas with a Bachelor's in Theology. She spent the next 11 years teaching students ranging from Kindergarten to 11th grade at 5 different schools mostly in DFW. She has spent 5 of those years teaching Theology at Catholic diocesan schools, 3 years with junior high and 2 years at the high school level. Mrs. West has developed courses and created curriculum based on her own liberal arts education and passion for Theology. She loves answering her student's questions and helping them form their own personal prayer lives.
Mrs. West was overjoyed when she saw the opening at OLGC for a middle school Theology tutor and she greatly looks forward to returning to the classroom teaching what she loves the most and still being able to be the primary educator for her own children.
Mrs. West has been tutoring for OLGC since 2025.
Interested in becoming an OLGC Tutor?
Our Lady of Good Counsel co-op in Fort Worth is always on the lookout for more amazing tutors for our high school and middle school students. This Catholic university-model co-op meets in person once per week on Mondays in Fort Worth. Tutors provide weekly assignments and may communicate with students as needed via an online learning management app on the remaining weekdays. Tutors set their own compensation/tuition rates and families compensate the tutors directly. Childcare is provided for tutors. If you know someone who has a degree or experience in a particular field of study and may be interested in helping Catholic home school students learn and appreciate that field of study, please have him/her reach out to us through our Contact Us page. Thank you very much! Our Lady of Good Counsel, pray for us.