Peggy Cannistraci
Peggy Cannistraci, owner of Math Support Services, attributes her success as an adult re-entry student to the supplemental services available at COC.
The TLC Lab (Tutoring, Learning, and Computing Lab) was a powerful resource for students both then and now, she says.
Peggy entered college directly after high school graduation with a full academic scholarship to Azusa Pacific University in mathematics. She spent two years there before she married and focused on raising a family. It was 12 years later that she enrolled at COC to continue her education and stay close to home and the schools her children attended.
When she returned to college and the classroom, she found COC professor Dr. Robert Patenaude to be an exceptional instructor. His method of instruction and explanations were like watching a book being written, absolutely mathematically clean, she explains.
She supplemented her learning by studying in the Tutoring, Learning, and Computing Lab (TLC) at COC with her classmates. It was Patenaude who encouraged his class to use the TLC Lab and told them, If you create support groups and study networks, you are much more likely to finish your degree. This was certainly true for Peggy, who earned an associate degree in mathematics from COC and a bachelors degree in mathematics, a masters degree in mathematics, and a teaching credential from California State University, Northridge. Later she would use the TLC Lab experience as the concept for her school, Math Support Services.
Math Support Services, Peggys brainchild, is the first single-subject private school for mathematics accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). She developed her school to be a math support resource for the community and a vehicle to support, tutor and educate junior high, high school and even college students in pre-algebra through calculus.
Peggy is active in the community, supporting education through her participation as a member of the Foundation Board of Directors. Peggy has been a long-standing member of the Chancellors Circle and a variety of other COC Foundation support groups.
Neither my business nor any of the things I do to serve our community would have been possible had I not received the encouragement and support of the staff and faculty at College of the Canyons as a re-entry student, she says. In particular, she notes that Mojdeh Mahn, Director of the TLC, and her math professor Dr. Patenaude, had a great impact on her and her success at COC and beyond.