MEET THE EXPERTS
Over two decades ago, then high school students, Elisa Buckner and Stephanie Espy attended a six-week summer program for students interested in math and science. Elisa, a native of Portland, Oregon, and Stephanie, a native of Decatur, Georgia, didn’t know then that they would team up years later to help thousands of students prepare for college admissions and gain acceptance into the colleges of their choice.
Today, they are the most sought after college experts duo, so much so that they have joined their individual brands, Access 2 Admission, MathSP, and STEM Gems, into a one-stop resource for everything college admissions, namely Knowledge for College. Knowledge for College is a platform where parents, students, and educators can access information pertaining to any college admissions topic. With Elisa and Stephanie on their side, families can confidently and competently navigate their unique college admissions journey.
MEET THE EXPERTS
ELISA BUCKNER + STEPHANIE ESPY
Over two decades ago, then high school students, Elisa Buckner and Stephanie Espy attended a six-week summer program for students interested in math and science. Elisa, a native of Portland, Oregon, and Stephanie, a native of Decatur, Georgia, didn’t know then that they would team up years later to help thousands of students prepare for college admissions and gain acceptance into the colleges of their choice.
Today, they are the most sought after college experts duo, so much so that they have joined their individual brands, Access 2 Admission, MathSP, and STEM Gems, into a one-stop resource for everything college admissions, namely Knowledge for College. Knowledge for College is a platform where parents, students, and educators can access information pertaining to any college admissions topic. With Elisa and Stephanie on their side, families can confidently and competently navigate their unique college admissions journey.
ELISA BUCKNER + STEPHANIE ESPY
Over two decades ago, then high school students, Elisa Buckner and Stephanie Espy attended a six-week summer program for students interested in math and science. Elisa, a native of Portland, Oregon, and Stephanie, a native of Decatur, Georgia, didn’t know then that they would team up years later to help thousands of students prepare for college admissions and gain acceptance into the colleges of their choice.
Today, they are the most sought after college experts duo, so much so that they have joined their individual brands, Access 2 Admission, MathSP, and STEM Gems, into a one-stop resource for everything college admissions, namely Knowledge for College. Knowledge for College is a platform where parents, students, and educators can access information pertaining to any college admissions topic. With Elisa and Stephanie on their side, families can confidently and competently navigate their unique college admissions journey.
ABOUT ELISA BUCKNER
Elisa Buckner has made it her life’s work to help young people achieve their educational and career goals. Answering the call to participate in a year-long volunteer program, she left her software development position in Washington, D.C. and moved to Atlanta, Georgia to help an urban high school with college admissions. At the conclusion of her one-year commitment, Elisa was invited to implement and lead a $1 million college-bound grant at the school. Her work efforts led to an increase of over 2 million dollars in scholarship awards for the senior class. Elisa then went on to serve Georgia’s charter school community by implementing the school counseling and college advisement programs for two schools and their inaugural senior classes.
With counseling caseloads skyrocketing in schools, more and more families began to request personalized services from Elisa. She started Access 2 Admission in 2010 and began presenting Knowledge for College seminars at Emory University for hundreds of Georgia families. She has presented on various topics pertinent to education at conferences for the Georgia Charter Schools Association, the Georgia School Counseling Association, as well as many parent information sessions for various high schools and community organizations around the Southeast. Currently, Access 2 Admission has been contracted to lead the college counseling department at Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School, the 28th school part of a national network serving predominantly low-income and first-generation college students. The Cristo Rey Network boasts a 100% college admissions rate.
Outside of managing Access 2 Admission, Elisa enjoys serving her community as a Board Member of Summerhill Community Ministries (Atlanta, GA), Wesley International Academy (Atlanta, GA) and Generation of Hope Church (Decatur, GA). She is also the member of the American School Counselors Association (ASCA), the Georgia School Counselors Association (GSCA), and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA).
Elisa is happily married to Dwight K. Buckner, Jr. and she is the proud parent of two sons, Elias (4) and Malachi (3), who are often found managing her social media accounts with uploads of the latest “Superhero” YouTube videos.
ABOUT STEPHANIE ESPY
Stephanie Espy is empowering the next generation of leaders with academic prowess and winning standardized test prep strategies. Her mission is to motivate, inspire, and prepare students to excel in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) academic subjects and on college and graduate admissions exams. By imparting STEM fluency – the ability to problem solve, think critically and logically, apply theory and innovate – she’s forging a society in which every child is motivated to create and realize his or her fullest potential.
In her youth, Stephanie earned the highest accolades for her achievements in her coursework while leading the flute section of a 300-member band, serving her high school as senior class president, and coaching her classmates and peers in math and science. These first few years of academic coaching convinced Stephanie that great coaches not only equip their students with a “math state of mind” but also go above and beyond to empower lifelong, self-motivated learners. By the time she graduated with a 4.2 GPA, she’d begun to hone the coaching philosophy that fuels her clients and yields real results.
After graduating from high school, Stephanie attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she majored in chemical engineering and minored in theater arts. Driven to apply her problem solving skills to the production of real-world technologies, Stephanie worked as an engineer for the multinational oil and gas company BP. Later, Stephanie was awarded a fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley where she pursued a master’s in chemical engineering with a certificate in Management of Technology, a joint program with the College of Engineering and the Haas School of Business. She completed a thesis on the metabolic engineering of rubber-producing plants to improve the quality and yield of natural rubber. Her primary research culminated in the authorship of two noted scientific papers published in the Archives of biochemistry and biophysics and Phytochemistry. Throughout her graduate studies, Stephanie coached students in multiple STEM subjects and taught test prep courses. In 2006, she earned a fellowship to attend the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.
In 2009, after earning her MBA, Stephanie founded MathSP, an STEM academic and comprehensive test prep coaching business serving students in middle school, high school, and college. Stephanie and her team have coached countless students preparing for the SSAT, PSAT/NMSQT, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT to help them achieve their target test scores. Stephanie is also the author of STEM Gems: How 44 Women Shine in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, And How You Can Too! – a book designed to give girls and young women role models in 44 diverse STEM careers.
ABOUT ELISA BUCKNER
Elisa Buckner has made it her life’s work to help young people achieve their educational and career goals. Answering the call to participate in a year-long volunteer program, she left her software development position in Washington, D.C. and moved to Atlanta, Georgia to help an urban high school with college admissions. At the conclusion of her one-year commitment, Elisa was invited to implement and lead a $1 million college-bound grant at the school. Her work efforts led to an increase of over 2 million dollars in scholarship awards for the senior class. Elisa then went on to serve Georgia’s charter school community by implementing the school counseling and college advisement programs for two schools and their inaugural senior classes.
With counseling caseloads skyrocketing in schools, more and more families began to request personalized services from Elisa. She started Access 2 Admission in 2010 and began presenting Knowledge for College seminars at Emory University for hundreds of Georgia families. She has presented on various topics pertinent to education at conferences for the Georgia Charter Schools Association, the Georgia School Counseling Association, as well as many parent information sessions for various high schools and community organizations around the Southeast. Currently, Access 2 Admission has been contracted to lead the college counseling department at Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School, the 28th school part of a national network serving predominantly low-income and first-generation college students. The Cristo Rey Network boasts a 100% college admissions rate.
Outside of managing Access 2 Admission, Elisa enjoys serving her community as a Board Member of Summerhill Community Ministries (Atlanta, GA), Wesley International Academy (Atlanta, GA) and Generation of Hope Church (Decatur, GA). She is also the member of the American School Counselors Association (ASCA), the Georgia School Counselors Association (GSCA), and the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA).
Elisa is happily married to Dwight K. Buckner, Jr. and she is the proud parent of two sons, Elias (4) and Malachi (3), who are often found managing her social media accounts with uploads of the latest “Superhero” YouTube videos.
ABOUT STEPHANIE ESPY
Stephanie Espy is empowering the next generation of leaders with academic prowess and winning standardized test prep strategies. Her mission is to motivate, inspire, and prepare students to excel in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) academic subjects and on college and graduate admissions exams. By imparting STEM fluency – the ability to problem solve, think critically and logically, apply theory and innovate – she’s forging a society in which every child is motivated to create and realize his or her fullest potential.
In her youth, Stephanie earned the highest accolades for her achievements in her coursework while leading the flute section of a 300-member band, serving her high school as senior class president, and coaching her classmates and peers in math and science. These first few years of academic coaching convinced Stephanie that great coaches not only equip their students with a “math state of mind” but also go above and beyond to empower lifelong, self-motivated learners. By the time she graduated with a 4.2 GPA, she’d begun to hone the coaching philosophy that fuels her clients and yields real results.
After graduating from high school, Stephanie attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she majored in chemical engineering and minored in theater arts. Driven to apply her problem solving skills to the production of real-world technologies, Stephanie worked as an engineer for the multinational oil and gas company BP. Later, Stephanie was awarded a fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley where she pursued a master’s in chemical engineering with a certificate in Management of Technology, a joint program with the College of Engineering and the Haas School of Business. She completed a thesis on the metabolic engineering of rubber-producing plants to improve the quality and yield of natural rubber. Her primary research culminated in the authorship of two noted scientific papers published in the Archives of biochemistry and biophysics and Phytochemistry. Throughout her graduate studies, Stephanie coached students in multiple STEM subjects and taught test prep courses. In 2006, she earned a fellowship to attend the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.
In 2009, after earning her MBA, Stephanie founded MathSP, an STEM academic and comprehensive test prep coaching business serving students in middle school, high school, and college. Stephanie and her team have coached countless students preparing for the SSAT, PSAT/NMSQT, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT to help them achieve their target test scores. Stephanie is also the author of STEM Gems: How 44 Women Shine in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, And How You Can Too! – a book designed to give girls and young women role models in 44 diverse STEM careers.