Founder & Management

Stefan Hochfilzer - Founder ClubXcite

As the founder of Club Xcite, LLC, and co-founder of Xcite Steps, LLC Stefan Hochfilzer has succeeded in creating a two youth mentorship program parents and children crave participation in. Inspiring and motivated, Stefan has set high standards and continues on his purpose, to help others.

Stefan’s passion for working with children stems from an empathy for the kids he serves. As a child challenged with a stutter, he, like so many of the children his program assists, was struggling academically, athletically and socially. Youthful role modeling and confidence building through sports was as much the antidote to his stutter as professional speech therapy. He emerged with a maturity that only children who have encountered difficulties can know, and surmounting these challenges paved the way for the future advent of Club Xcite and Xcite Steps.

The result was a young man eager to employ his own mentoring approach in the community. At fifteen, Stefan began teaching tennis, apprenticing under his former coach before setting off on his own. As so many of his clients know, his excitement is infectious and he quickly garnered a stable of clients seeking to enroll their children under him. Just as it had for him, tennis served as a catalyst for Stefan to discover who the children were and who they wanted to become. His youth enabled him to form a fraternal connection that thrives both Xcite programs today.

On the strength of his previous success, Stefan launched his first company in 2002, the Inspired Learning Institute, LLC. This program endorsed the coupling of sports instruction and comprehensive mentoring and offered an assortment of athletic opportunities.
Shortly thereafter Stefan entered the Hass School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and the Inspired Learning Institute would serve as the antecedent of what would become Club Xcite. Upon graduating from Berkeley he entered the corporate world for a year, then a real estate certificate program, and finally returned to his first passion, working with children. Club Xcite was founded in 2004 with the vision to provide a balanced one-on-one mentoring service to families. Today, Stefan and Club Xcite remain unique in the way they serve children and the success they have found. Stefan’s own experiences have taught him that schools lack the resources and the ability to innovate in a way that is necessary to reach every child. Club Xcite, conversely, is fortunate in its ability to customize services to each child’s strengths and weaknesses.

Piggy backing on the success of Club Xcite!, Stefan has founded Xcite Steps, dedicated to serving children with autism and other cognitive or developmental disabilities under the same tenets of customization and mentoring. This program’s growth and strength have been equal to its sister’s and he continues to find new ways to innovate and improve children’s opportunities.

Nearly six years into Club Xcite’s evolution and four years into Xcite Steps Stefan remains a driving force behind his program’s success. Intimately involved with every detail, he continues to treat each new client as his first and his persistent enthusiasm for what he does makes everyone around him excited to participate in the program.

EVAN KIRSTEIN, M.ED

Evan Kirstein. Executive Director

Evan Kirstein is the Executive Director of Club Xcite. Like so many who lend their compassion and skills to Club Xcite, Evan is a product of his experience and environment.  Evan attended the Ohio State University where he graduated with a degree in Psychology before moving to San Diego to pursue his Masters in Education as well as a K – 6 Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. Evan has taught at almost every grade level and at a variety of public, private and charter schools as well as tutored, coached, mentored and researched, which prepared him for his current position of Executive Director.  A few of his favorite things include photography, exercising, surfing, and treating every weekend in San Diego, like he was on vacation in San Diego.

Evan prides himself on knowing each family and child in our program personally; this approach coupled with his knowledge of the struggles facing our adolescents makes him an asset Club Xcite is proud to offer our families.

ANGELA BIANCO

Angela Bianco, Program Manager

Angela Bianco is the Program Manager for ClubXcite.  Angela Bianco has a BFA in Theatre Arts from Adelphi University in New York and a Master of Arts in Drama and Movement Therapy from The Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. She was a licensed and practicing Dramatherapist in London from May 2009 – December 2011, working with children and adults with various mental health disorders. Angela founded her own non profit in 2009, Tortoise and the Hare, specializing in using the arts as a form of psychotherapy for children and adolescents. Angela volunteers her time at A.R.T.S, teaching art classes at the San Diego Center for Children; and PACT, conducting Improv Theatre that teaches life skills to autistic teenagers and adults. Angela plans on continuing her education at The University of Southern California in order to obtain her license in clinical social work.