Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Juneja.
Hi Alex, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Coming from a myriad of different disciplines and experiences, I wanted to “be the change I wanted to see in the world”. Growing up, my relationship with education–especially math–was filled with distrust at best. I felt like I was always struggling to meet expectations, and that took a toll both on my grades and my own emotional well-being. I was constantly stressed as a child, torn between my own interests and the heavy, unintuitive workload schools assigned. I believe that, while education is quintessential, kids deserve to be kids.
Larry Martinek, one of the Mathnasium founders, made it his mission to create a path to teach children math in an individualized way that made sense specifically to the kids of the world. What sold me on becoming a franchisee was the image I saw of myself, as a young boy struggling with math and few mentors who believed in him, getting the help and support he needed from Mathnasium (which had just formed in Westwood at the time, 20-something years ago). I got into this business and hired an incredible staff so we could support the community by solving their math learning, permanently, while also giving this children math mentors who really believes in every single one of them.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am blessed to say that, for the most part, things have been smooth. At first, as we opened recently (in January of 2024), parents were skeptical of our efficacy. But in the past year-and-a-half, we’ve seen incredible success stories and turn-around cases from these children. Many of them came to us entirely unmotivated and afraid of math. Now they beg their parents to attend their Mathnasium classes and their math grades have done a full 180.
The concern of many parents is that, because these changes happen over long-term consistency and not overnight, they are not sure of our program being effective in the immediate short-term. Conveying that we are the best math education solution has been our biggest struggle, even now; though humans perform better with repetition and consistency toward habit-building (as shown with exercise at the gym, for example), a few visiting parents believe that the untrained human mind can simply flip a switch and make everything better in an hour. Of course, this is not the case, and 95% success rate across almost 1200 locations worldwide prove that.
But our community in Northridge is filled with so many proactive and nurturing parents that this “struggle” can hardly be called one. We are not only grateful that we are part of such an education-focused community, but also we feel blessed for these kids as they are lucky to have the caring parents that they do!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Mathnasium of Northridge?
Mathnasium in Northridge is known for specialized fundamental math help. This mostly involves individualized teaching (for accelerated students) or reteaching (for students who are behind and were unable to keep up with their school’s pace and expectation). What sets us apart from other learning centers, even other Mathnasium franchises in the region, is our specialized attention and individualization per student (where we help each of them differently depending on need and topics in their curriculum) as well as our unbeatable pricing; our prices even beat out Mathnasiums located in the more rural parts of the United States, despite us being in Los Angeles! The tutoring industry is not cheap, especially tutoring from instructors we spend months to train, but we have been able to cut costs down for our parents to the bone.
Brand-wise, I am most proud of our utilization of the “Mathnasium Method,” a method that all centers use in order to teach math in a way that makes sense to children and teens specifically. We’ve seen a significant amount of success in our students over the course of 7 to 12 months enrolled. Another pride point is that we hold assessments, diagnostic appointments for prospective students, entirely for free and for the community. This is offered year-round!
We are also running a Black Friday/Holiday sale coming up, where the first 25 parents who enroll before December 31st will receive a $50 discount per month through their first enrollment term! These type of promotions go very quickly.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Behind every person is a village of supporters: something I firmly believe to be true. There are so many people who make this business possible, from my dad and his team of expert accountants at Foumberg, Juneja, Rocher, and co. to the instructors that serve as the backbone for the entire operation. All the parents we service deserve credit for their significant impact on our center, as well. The best part about the “Mathnasium Method” is how flexible we can be in relaying it to our students, so their feedback and referrals have been crucial to our success with these kids in-session and out.
Lastly, the local schools and communities we’ve serviced that have promoted us (and us to them, in turn) deserve much credit as they’ve given us significantly more reach to help kids with math learning needs that we may not have been connected with otherwise. There are too many to list, but some schools we’ve done events with are:
Balboa Gifted/High Ability Magnet Elementary School
Lorne Street Elementary School
Magnolia Science Academy-7
And counting! The number of schools we go to for events or holding our own programs increases all the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.mathnasium.com/northridge
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/mathnasiumofnorthridge
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@northridge.math.help
Image Credits
James Santizo for all photos.
