Raised in New York City and London, England, after six years in the Washington D.C. area, Kathy moved to North Carolina in 2000. She started her career in the corporate world, but after struggling to understand why her young, bright, and happy son went from loving school to struggling and dread, she embarked on a mission to find answers. During her quest to make sense of why some students go from happy kindergarteners to unmotivated adolescents, Kathy pursued an M.Ed. in Special Education and a Ph.D. in education with a concentration on Educational Psychology. As a passionate advocate for students and families, she has devoted her career to helping adolescents find academic success. Over the past decade+, she has immersed herself in college admissions and offers expert advice based on extensive theory, knowledge, and experience.

Kathy is married and enjoys her early morning tea with milk and sugar (a throwback to her London days), yoga, walking her 75-pound rescue pup, hiking, and traveling with her husband. When she is not working with other people's students, she spends as much time as possible in the mountains and with her six phenomenal children and step-children and beautiful granddaughters.

Ph.D., Educational Studies Teacher Education 

• Concentration: Educational Psychology
• Doctoral Minor, Human Development and Family Sciences 

M.Ed. Special Education: General Curriculum and Learning Disabilities

Certified Educational Planner

UCLA College Counseling Certificate: Awarded with Distinction

Holistic Career Counselor: Greenwood System 

Financial Aid Certification: SCOIR

State of North Carolina Professional Educator’s License

• Reading K-12
• Special Education: General Curriculum

B.A. Political Science

Griswold, A. K. (2015). The effects of an SRSD-based writing intervention on the self-efficacy, writing apprehension, and writing performance of high school students: A mixed methods study (Doctoral dissertation). Proquest Dissertation Publishing. doi:3745542

Griswold, A. K. (2016). An Interview with Karen Harris (B. E. Mandell & S. L. DeZutter, Eds.). Self-Regulation: Educating a Diverse Population of Learners, 2-4.

Griswold, A. K. (2018). Applying self-regulated learning to writing instruction in high school classrooms. In M. K. DiBenedetto, (Ed.), Connecting self-regulated learning and performance with instruction across high school content areas. Springer International Publishing.