Middle School Student Goes from Struggling to Success

Middle School Was Harder Than He Thought

Middle school student, Matthew, was having a difficult year back in elementary school. He started as a strong student, not letting his mom help him with schoolwork anymore because he was so confident he could do things by himself. However, he could not anticipate that his experience in school would drag him down, and he started to struggle. For that school year, he performed poorly in school and was losing his stride. 

Needing help to get back on a path to success, Matthew started learning at Genie Academy after seeing how much his brother, Mark, enjoyed and thrived in the program. “At first he really liked Genie Academy; he was jealous that only his brother was doing it,” his mom told us. “Then, within a couple months, he noticed the program actually worked.” He wasn’t as enthusiastic about the added workload, but kept at it tenaciously, understanding that the hard work would pay off.

Hard Work Pays Off

Within a year of diligent work and working with his teachers, Matthew was not only back on track, but excelling. He even was placed in the accelerated math program at his school after that rough year.

Consistently achieving high marks and honors at school, he also won awards for his successes. In sixth and seventh grades, he was nominated for and won the award for the best male student of his class. Winning this award two years in a row is quite an achievement, as the criteria for choosing who best deserves the awards are set at very high standards. Now in eighth grade, he persistently has high honors.

Solving Problems with Genie Academy

Matthew’s biggest problems were that he would make small mistakes that would undercut the rest of his work and that he did not always understand what was expected of him. The teachers at Genie Academy addressed these problems to help Matthew better understand and work through what he needed to do. “I think it refocused the learning objectives of the task at hand,” his mom said. “ Genie Academy guided him on what was expected and gave him strategies to do that, and that was what he needed.”

Matthew also participated in the Reading Genie program when he was in fourth and fifth grade for enrichment and to encourage his love of learning. This paid off in spades, and his love for reading is apparent. Outside of school, he is now part of a virtual book club he started with his friends, which is sponsored by one of his teachers.