You know the cliche: Knowledge is power. Even Alexander the Great had a tutor while he conquered the known world. It helped that it was Aristotle. 

A good education is a strong indicator of future success in business and in life generally. So it shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a vibrant industry out there in preparing people for getting ahead in school. 

Modern education throws a lot of tests out at you. Want to go college? Take the ACT. Want to go business school? Take the GMAT. And that’s on top of the regular classes, tests and essays you’ve got on your to-do list. It can be a lot to manage. 

Garret Douet is there to help you. Garret is the founder of Open Door Tutoring, which offers tutoring services for students at all grade levels and for the pesky standardized tests. 

Garret is a student himself. He’s studying to be a mechanical engineer at UL. In fact, most of the tutors at Open Door Tutoring are students, many of them in engineering programs. It helps to be students, to teach students, Garret says. Garret is from Youngsville and founded Open Door in 2022. 

OK, so Garret’s job is to teach one student at a time. How about teaching 30,000? You could say that’s Mark Rabalais' job. Mark is the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for Lafayette Parish School System, the public school system here in Lafayette. Mark’s role is to direct how the system’s 47 schools teach. 

Public schools have always been a part of Mark’s life. His parents were public school advocates and his sister is an administrator. He began his own career as a teacher at Pineville High School, his home town. He moved to Lafayette to take a job as an assistant principal at Ernest Gallet Elementary School. 

Mark holds a masters degree in art from Northwestern State and has a doctorate in education from UL.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan. at itsacadiana.com.