Senior Genie Academy Student Achieves High Honors In and Out of School

Admittance into the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth

Zunaira, who as a fifth grade student is already taking advanced sixth grade math, was recently accepted into the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program for her excellent mathematics abilities. To be accepted into the program, Zunaira took an hour-long exam that featured problems two and even three grade levels ahead of her. She passed the exam with flying colors, earning her membership to the high-level program and academic offerings from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

This admittance to the program is due to her strong foundational skills from being in Genie Academy since she was in kindergarten, according to her mom. “I really attribute a lot of her refined skill set and the strong foundational math skills she has to Genie Academy because she was not getting it from school,” Zunaira’s mom told us. “It was more slow-paced and was not challenging her at all, so Genie Academy was a nice boost to help her improve her math skills with challenging concepts and topics, as well as improving her mental math skills.” Zunaira’s experience with Genie Academy gave her a strong foundational skill set that made her truly talented with numbers, which helped her do well on the exam for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

New School? No Problem!

Zunaira has previously been in Gifted and Talented programs through her school, and saw a lot of success with her NJSLA. For fifth grade this year, Zunaira started at a new school. She was placed into advanced sixth grade math classes right away because of her strong math skills, and has faced every challenge so far with success. Her mom said that she was a bit nervous to start at her new school because she was not sure how different things would be from her previous experience.

However, once classes started and she became more familiar with the material, she grew more comfortable and confident. She even finished her first marking period with high honors, achieving scores of 95 or higher in her math class. “She’s doing well and her confidence builds with her achievements,” her mom said. Even within Genie Academy, Zunaira is known for always completing her work well and helping her classmates to succeed. This confident and positive attitude carries through to her new school, and will surely lead to even more honors and achievements down the line.

A Parent’s Positive Perspective

Zunaira’s mom attributes Zunaira’s confident attitude and consistent success to Genie Academy, saying her confidence and focus are now very strong. She felt that the concepts Zunaira was learning were very valuable and were building her mathematical foundation. “She had a lot of good teachers who made her excited about the topic, so overall I like the program,” she said. The experience she herself had with Genie Academy as a parent was also very positive, as she said that there was a lot of consistency in the classes. She also noted that it was very easy to schedule classes, and even to reschedule if something came up.

Zunaira’s mom told us that when Zunaira started Genie Academy more than five years ago, the recommendation for the program from a friend carried a lot of weight. This friend, who has a background in education, is very selective and critical of different teaching methods and learning programs. When she told Zunaira’s mom that her own sons were seeing a lot of benefit from Genie Academy, it meant a lot. 

Since Zunaira has had so much success, her mom enrolled Zunaira’s younger sister into the program as well. She has been taking Genie Academy classes since before starting kindergarten, and is now in first grade. They are also looking into the Coding Genie and Reading Genie programs for more enrichment and challenges. “I really appreciate Genie Academy,” Zunaira’s mom said. “Zunaira really loved math throughout the program; she wasn’t doing it because she was forced to, she really enjoyed her time there.”