When Mathnasium opened a branch in Park City, spearheaded by co-owners Dena Stewart and Kouy Kolar, it met a variety of needs in the community.
For Tess Cronin, a senior at Silver Summit Academy, it provided her a job. Reflecting on when Mathnasium first opened, she said the ad caught her attention.
“I’ve always really loved math. And I grew up in Chicago, and in Chicago I went to Mathnasium myself when I was younger. … I thought it would be a really cool full-circle thing,” she said.
After over a year of tutoring there, Cronin said she feels lucky.
“It has been amazing. I love it. It’s been such a fun environment to work in, really positive. … It’s one of those jobs that you don’t actually dread going to ever,” she said. “Having kids ace tests that they didn’t think they’d be able to, it’s just amazing and the best feeling.”
Dedicated tutors like Cronin are just part of the success owners Kolar and Stewart have seen with the Park City Mathnasium. But the two aren’t that surprised — as consumers first, they knew how valuable it was.
Kolar started bringing her daughter to the Mathnasium in Sugarhouse, she said, and after seeing positive results for her own child, recommended the program to Stewart for her kids as well. But drives down Parleys Canyon for these after-school sessions were less than ideal.
“When I saw that Park City did not have any kind of education after school, specifically for math tutoring, it just kind of became obvious to me that it was something that the community could really benefit from,” said Kolar, with a background in education.
Kolar wanted to find a business partner who shared a passion for community support, and Stewart — who had been searching for years for the right business venture — was the missing piece.
When the center opened in 2022, one of the patterns Kolar and Stewart noticed was a need caused by COVID challenges, because math builds on itself.
“They just had a couple of years where they weren’t given instruction that was in-depth because of just the way things were being taught over remote learning or (because of) however kind of type of learner they were, it didn’t resonate,” said Kolar. “So we see a lot of students who are coming in maybe a year or two behind and they just need more review.”
According to the Utah State Board of Education annual report for 2021-22 school year, kindergarten through eighth grade test scores in math for the state of Utah sat at 44.2% proficient, with Park City School District at 55% proficient. At the high school level, the state proficiency was at 32.5% with PCSD students testing 41.6% proficient.
A unique challenge for Park City’s younger learners, said Kolar and Stewart, is a result of the optional Dual Language Immersion programs. At the elementary school level, Park City School District has two Spanish immersion schools and two French immersion schools, where students are taught in English and the second language split throughout the day.
For native English speakers, this new learning environment can create additional hurdles.
“There are so many students who are learning math, in those younger foundational years, in a different language and a second language for them. So we see a lot of DLI students coming in saying, it’s really challenging when they’re trying to learn a new math concept and it’s in Spanish or it’s in French,” said Stewart.
When students come to Mathnasium, set up like a gym with monthly memberships and after-school sessions, they are each given a personalized learning program. This helps to strengthen weaker math knowledge areas and provide a better foundation for learning new concepts, the owners said.
“We’re actually teaching them methods to help them have retention in these math concepts and skills and grow their knowledge and start to create a positive relationship with math,” said Kolar.
A large portion of the structure is providing a variety of tutors who teach math concepts in different math languages. With a team teaching model, there is always one tutor for every four students, and the tutors will rotate the room to assist on the assigned math worksheets. This allows students to hear the concepts explained in different ways, and then gravitate toward the tutor that makes the most sense for their learning style.
“Maybe how one person words something versus another, or one is more visual with an example … so that it hits upon all those different modes of learning,” said Kolar.
As students complete their worksheets, they can earn stars which are used as currency for a prize closet. Stars can also be earned through different non-math participation, like dressing up for crazy hat day.
Stewart and Kolar are also dedicated to building relationships with math educators to make sure they can assist their students as best as possible. They also plan outreach in the community.
“We do math nights at the elementary schools. We sponsor a lot of the school activities around Park City. We are part of Running with Ed and help with the Education Foundation,” said Stewart.
With a little over a year under their belt, Stewart and Kolar have assisted over 220 students. According to Cronin, their mission to make math more accessible has had great results.
“I know there’s a preconceived notion that math can be hard and boring and frustrating, and it totally can be frustrating, but I think we do such a good job making it fun and enjoyable and kids actually like going here and they look forward to it. I think that’s something really special that Dena and Kouy have done with it,” said Cronin.
After graduation in May, Cronin is excited to go to college to hopefully become a robotics and electrical engineer.
Learn more about Mathnasium at their website, mathnasium.com/parkcity/about.