By David Lea
March 14, 2021
A former Canadian Football League (CFL) player is now rushing to help children improve their skills in science, mathematics and more.
Andy Fantuz, who played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Chicago Bears and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian Player for 2010 is now the owner of the Scholars Education centre, which is located at 1915 Ironoak Way, Unit 3 (Farm Boy Plaza) in Oakville.
The facility opened its doors on Dec. 1, 2020, and has been offering personalized tutoring for all subjects from the kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum ever since.
“Throughout my football career, I had the privilege to mentor and coach a lot of youth in the cities I resided in, both in athletics and in life skills, nutrition and education,” said Fantuz.
“This is something I have been passionate about throughout my career and I have been able to take that role a step further and focus on it full time, post football.”
Currently, the facility’s staff of nearly 10 teachers is providing tutoring services to 20 students.
Fantuz, who is also an Oakville resident, says the Joshua Creek location has the capability to service around 100 students and noted additional teachers will be brought in to help when the number of students increases.
The former CFL player said now more than ever it is important to have tutoring services available to help students who may be falling behind.
“Unfortunately, the online learning and everything with COVID-19 put a lot of stress on students and their families to keep up with their grades at home,” said Fantuz.
“Some students have been successful online, but the majority of them are finding it hard to keep up and maintain where they want to be academically. We certainly help with that and a lot of the students we do have find it very valuable to have that extra help and attention.”
The facility has teachers who can teach a variety of subjects and grades as well as specialty teachers for high school French and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students.
“We have a proprietary Canadian-based curriculum that is put together by a board of advisers with PhDs in education. We direct the students through a comprehensive assessment, which identifies any skill gaps a student may have in a specific subject,” said Fantuz.
“The assessment then creates a prescription that is customized and individualized for the student that they can work through at their own pace.”
Fantuz said Scholars also has small student-to-teacher ratios, with the maximum ratio for grade school being three to one and the maximum ratio for high school being two to one.
“It’s a very intimate setting where they are working hands on with the teacher, but they still learn those independent skills and group learning that they’ll need in their classroom in real life,” said Fantuz.
Like all other educational facilities, Scholars had to cease in-person learning due to COVID-19 in mid-January, but has since reopened.
The facility has an online classroom, however, which continued to operate throughout the lockdown.
For more information, visit www.scholarsed.com/locations/tutoring-joshua-creek/.
VIA: https://www.thestar.com/local-oakville/business/2021/03/14/oakville-resident-and-former-pro-football-player-now-helping-children-improve-their-learning-skills.html
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