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About the Instructor

Introduction

As an extensively trained and certified professional instructor, I serve as a mentor who guides your children through their work while also providing direction, support and encouragement. I create an at-home study plan in addition to monitoring classroom assignments, and I emphasize the importance of accurately completing each assignment within a designated time frame. This has helped many of my students increase self-confidence, thus becoming more self-reliant. Like all Kumon Instructors, I have a true passion for education and an earnest desire to help children succeed.

Biography and Background

Meet Instructor Ms. Maria and her family!
The Lopez-Trujillo Kumon family


I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University in Colombia, and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Communications from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Back in my country, I was the cultural editor for a local newspaper and later the Director of Communications for the Technological University of Bolivar. I was also an English As a Second Language teacher. During my graduate school at Purdue University, I taught communications, culture, and speech. After graduating, I worked as a research team member for the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University and later for the Florida Center for Reading Research as a project coordinator of the Individualized Student Instruction project.


I have had a long term, personal passion for researching and understanding learning. I bring to our Kumon Math and Reading Center of Tallahassee, my professional experience, my time as a Kumon mom, my passion for the learning process, and the support and hard work of my family. I combine those experiences with my Kumon training and my desire to help your kids get the most of an already proven, effective system, the Kumon curriculum.


Education is very important in our family. My husband of 27 years, Jorge Enrique Lopez, holds two Bachelor’s degrees and a Master’s degree. He has passions for customer service, success, and e-marketing, which he is putting to use at our center. Our older son, Pablo, was a Kumon student many years ago. He graduated with a double major in Neuroscience and Linguistics and is pursuing his PhD at the University of Chicago. When he’s not away at school, he works as an assistant at our center. Our younger son, Simon, is in 11th grade. He is a Life Scout, a third degree black belt in Taekwondo, a pianist and a successful Kumon Math and Reading student. As you can see, my family is very involved in our Kumon center and we think of ourselves as The Lopez-Trujillo Team. 


 “We must allow children to experience the joy of self-learning and advancing on their own. We hope they will then continue learning by themselves even after going out in the real world, and grow up into people who are proactive in everything they do.” –Toru Kumon