New Local Owners of Teaneck Mathnasium Add to Enrichment Options
New math?
It’s the new Mathnasium of Teaneck. The three-year-old enrichment and tutoring center on Queen Anne Road has new local owners, who are busy gearing up for the new academic year.
Matt and Stefanie Diamond, Teaneck residents who have been involved in business and community locally for years — Stefanie as the owner of her own photography business and Matt as a kids’ sports coach — have taken their acumen and commitment to community into a new local venue whose goals are to strengthen students’ math skills, help them gain confidence and progress in school.
“When they say a kid is not a math kid, that’s just not true,” said Matt, a self-professed “numbers guy” who has worked in corporate finance for major companies like Nabisco and Avis Budget Rent-a-Car.
“Everybody can learn math if it’s taught properly. We don’t believe that kids don’t get math. You just have to teach and reach them the right way.
“As a coach (for baseball and soccer), I have seen in the sports field how much children can grow and learn and gain confidence. I’ve witnessed that amazing moment when a light bulb goes on,” Matt said. “I think we can make the same impact with math. When a student is struggling, and then they get it, it is amazing. The kids may come in scared, frustrated, and angry, and then they learn the math. It changes their lives. I’ve seen the letters and essays (of thanks) they’ve written.”
Matt was looking for a change, too, when this opportunity came up. He was doing well in his career, doing forecasts and analyses of all the revenue and expenses of the major companies that he worked for, but he was hankering for something different, something more meaningful. While he was doing well in his career, he was looking to do good, as well.
Then the opportunity with Mathnasium came up, he said.
“I wanted something more fulfilling,” said Matt, who has three daughters with Stefanie. “And the more I looked at the possibility of Mathnasium, the more I became excited. The Mathnasium method, their model, just makes sense for kids.”
Said Stefanie, who will stick to her work with the camera while Matt will be the main math man, “We’ve met with the company’s founders, who are brilliant leaders in the education field and even more brilliant math teachers, and they blew us away. They have spent more than 40 years creating, designing, developing, and refining the unique Mathnasium technique and the company’s success rates and rave reviews from parents and kids are the proof that their method not only works, but kids have fun while learning.”
Mathnasium, which has 900 franchises including several in Bergen County, focuses only on math and shows youngsters, kindergarten through 12th grade, how numbers work, why different methods are used to solve problems, and through a combination of verbal, mental, visual and tactile exercises, makes learning math fun.
Students get an assessment at the start of their math journey, and a customized learning plan for teaching the concepts are developed and followed. There is constant checkup on a student’s progress to make sure that material is learned and retained.
“I hope that we can help the local kids and the community. We want to help kids get over their frustration and the labels and start to feel good about what they can achieve,” said Matt.
Looks like it’s all adding up to a good start.
Heidi Mae Bratt is the editor of
About Our Children
comments