Meet Our Team

Robyn Bard

Center Director

As Center Director, Robyn runs all operations for Sylvan of Palm Harbor. She attended Florida State University and the University of South Florida and has a B.A. in Elementary Education. After teaching elementary school for seven years and running the local PTA, Robyn joined the Sylvan Palm Harbor staff in 2009. Robyn is passionate about meeting every child’s individual needs and loves seeing the smiling faces of happy children walking out of the center! When Robyn isn’t at Sylvan, you can find her scrapbooking, taking her dog for a walk on the beach, or enjoying time with her children.

Mr. Steve

Lead Instructor

Steve graduated summa cum laude, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics Education from the University of South Florida. He has been a tutor at Sylvan of Palm Harbor since 2000 and enjoys riding bicycles with his wife in his free time. He has taught at St. Petersburg College as an adjunct professor for over 10 years. Steve enjoys helping children realize their strengths and abilities in mathematics. Steve tutors primarily in Math and teaches the Math portion of our SAT/ACT prep. He also enjoys showing students how learning Math can be both interesting and rewarding.

Vivian Mantzarinis

Program Manager

Miss. Vivian earned a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education from SPC in 2015, and is pursuing her Masters degree in School Counseling at USF. She has a genuine passion for working with children and loves being able to be part of their journey in education. Vivian joined our team at Sylvan this past April in 2016. During high school, Vivian volunteered for over 400 hours in a daycare setting and, among other responsibilities, helped students with their homework. From there she became interested in tutoring and has experience working as a private tutor, and as a Greek School teacher.

Margaret Attkisson

Instructor

Margaret is a graduate from the University of South Florida with a B.A. in English Education and an M.A. in Educational Leadership. She began her career in 1997 teaching language arts at Palm Harbor Middle School. In 2007, she became an assistant principal and retired from Pinellas County Schools in June 2016. Margaret joined Sylvan in November 2016 where she continues her love for teaching. Her commitment to education and the belief that all children can succeed has been reaffirmed through her experiences at Sylvan Learning Center. On a personal note, Margaret has three grown children and five grandchildren, whom she adores.

Patrice is recently retired after 30 years of teaching. Her love for education and learning could not keep her away very long and she joined us at Sylvan. She has a B.A. in Education and an M.A. in Instruction and Curriculum. Patrice’s aims to find each student’s learning style and help them to become lifelong learners. In her free time, Patrice loves to spend time with her family, read, swim, and practice yoga. 

Dana recently retired from Pasco County Schools, where she taught for 30 years. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Elementary Instruction and Curriculum. She loves being part of that moment when a student is successful and haslearned a new skill. Dana comes from a family of educators, she has a brother, a daughter-in-law, a niece, a father-in-law, and a sister-in-law who are all also teachers. When she is not traveling with her husband, she enjoys spending time with her four grandchildren.