Fourth Grade student becomes eligible for Gifted and Talented Program in School

Fourth grade student from East Brunswick, NJ credits Genie Academy for helping him advance in school!

Gio has just been accepted into his school’s Gifted and Talented Program. The program
focuses on a variety of subjects, including media literacy, probability and geography. Both Gio
and his father, Hugh, are extremely proud of his accomplishments, and they both laud Genie Academy as a
source of academic enrichment and guidance.

Since beginning Genie Academy, Gio has improved tremendously in his school work,
according to his father. Their time in Genie Academy so far has been “very good,” as it’s “helping
Gio to build stronger fundamentals in school.” Gio is currently enrolled in Abacus Math, and his
father shared a touching anecdote with us: as a child in South Korea, Gio’s father learned math
using an abacus! He says that because he’s seen the benefits of the abacus firsthand, he wanted
Gio to experience the same thing. In fact, learning to use the abacus was the main reason Gio’s
parents enrolled him in Genie Academy in the first place. Hugh says he can still do mental math
because of how he learned with the abacus!

“After coming to Genie Academy and learning the abacus and mental multiplication, it helped
a lot,” says Gio.

Before starting at Genie Academy, Gio shared that his biggest struggles in school were
multiplying large numbers and learning his time tables. Each week at Genie Academy, Gio practiced
those skills and worked to master them, and with the help of his abacus, he was able to do just
that. Of course, his East Brunswick tutors at Genie Academy were a huge source of encouragement, too, and he
says that his favorite part about Genie Academy is that the teachers are always willing to help
students when they need it, and they make it easier for students to learn.

Aside from academics, Gio also plays the clarinet, and he was recently the only student in
his school to be chosen for the Middlesex County Band, which selects only 1 or 2 students from
each school. Even more impressive, Gio was the only fourth grade student to be chosen, while
the other candidates were fifth grade or older. At home, Gio loves to read books (“any kind,”
says dad) and usually reads an hour a day.

Gio and his father could not be happier with Gio’s school progress, and his teachers at
Genie Academy are excited to see what Gio accomplishes next.