B.A. Theatre (minors in Hispanic Studies and Sociology)
Boston College
bmcentee@esmprep.comEssay Coaching
Billy is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and educator. He teaches with The School of the New York Times, instructing both high school and gap year students, and has also guest lectured with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at Northern Highlands Regional High School in New Jersey. As a writer, Billy has contributed to The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Vanity Fair, Observer, Travel+Leisure, Playbill, and other publications. He also works as a freelance theater journalist and is the American Theatre Critics Association's inaugural Terry Helbing Fellow.
As a freelance writer who studied with wonderful mentors, Billy sees education as a way to pay it forward: he studied with The Boston Globe's Don Aucoin while at Boston College, and it was Don's Feature Writing class that showed Billy a path forward as a professional writer. Now, Billy enjoys being a mentor to others: he works with students of all writing levels, helping them find the specificity in their essays to create compelling arguments and portraits. Through his work at The School of the New York Times, Billy has edited dozens of college application essays and has also written recommendation letters for students who have gotten into top colleges, including Harvard and NYU.
When not teaching or writing, Billy enjoys theater (especially funky new plays), cooking (he makes his own vegetable stock out of composted foods), and running (in 2023, he ran his first half marathon).