21
February
Toronto – When Don Mills principal and campus owner Kaynan Anshur joined the Spirit of Math Schools (SoM) family 13 years ago, a total of roughly 400 students were scattered throughout the program’s campuses.
Now, he’s seen the program grow to include more than 7,500 students in campuses across North America. Anshur became a franchise owner and has personally seen the growth of the SoM program come full circle as he and co-owner Nimo Hussein cut the ribbon of their very own custom-built facility at 73 Underhill Drive in North York
Seeing his campus grow from a small class of seven students to more than 380 high-performing young minds, Anshur says the development of the program has “kept him young.”
“I can’t believe it’s been 13 years,” Anshur said, shortly after he, Hussein, SoM CEO and founder Kim Langen, along with co-founder Charles Ledger held the ribbon cutting ceremony. “It’s so nice seeing the kids go through the program and seeing their progress, but also the development of the teachers. You can see the teachers quickly gaining confidence and become better teachers.”
WATCH: Kim Langen (SoM CEO and Founder), Charles Ledger (Co-Founder), Kaynan Anshur (Campus Co-Owner and Principal), and Nimo Hussein (Campus Co-Owner) cut the ribbon of SoM’s new Don Mills Campus:>
Since 2007, SoM’s Don Mills campus has taken high-performing students in Grades 1-10 from the top of the class to the top of the nation with the program’s unique curriculum focusing on drills, problem solving, core curriculum and cooperative group work.
Anshur joined the program in 2003 as a teacher, and shortly later, he decided he wanted to open his own campus. Starting with a shared rental space, the Don Mills campus’s rapid growth has led to the need for a dedicated facility, which is now officially open for business.
“We thought, this is a person who really shows that he is dedicated to whatever he does,” Langen said of Anshur. “He’s illustrated that throughout the last 13 years, he has dedicated himself not just to the mathematics and the teaching, but that everything done is for the students.”
WATCH: SoM CEO and Founder Kim Langen speaks at the grand opening:
“He decided he wanted to open his own campus and we encouraged him to do that because we saw leadership ability.”
The new facility features three brightly-lit classrooms, along with offices and a comfortable lounge area for parents. Anshur and Hussein are thrilled about the new location, which they describe as bright, spacious, beautiful and welcoming to students, parents and teachers.
Anshur pointed out, that with their own dedicated space, SoM teachers have the ability to take their time with setting up before classes and have the opportunity to discuss their lesson plans with their peers in-depth. He describes the new campus as one that creates a “real school setting.”
While Thursday’s event served as a celebration of an exciting new facility, Langen said it was so much more than that.
“It may seem like this is just a celebration of a new building, but it’s also a celebration of the huge amount of work that they (Anshur and Hussien) have put in,” she said. “I know that (parents an students) have two people that are here for you and really believe what they are doing to ensure they are successful.”