Hidden Gems: Meet Ariz Himani of Cornerstone Academic

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ariz Himani.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
We started in 2007 while we were in college. We used to help students with their academic subjects (Calculus, Chemistry, etc.) and SAT/ACT Preparation. Eventually, we started working with the local school systems (Gwinnett County, Forsyth County, etc.) and started providing services to a broader audience.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been smooth. From dealing with large players in our industry to dealing with the unique challenges that the pandemic presented, we’ve had to adapt how we serve our clients.

The larger companies have a lot of lobbying power, and they are not afraid to take some less-than-ethical steps to get into schools to monopolize the services.

The pandemic required us to pivot to digital learning, which meant getting additional technology setup in a time when the technology wasn’t available due to supply shortages, and getting staff and customers trained in using the technology so everything can run smoothly.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Cornerstone Academic?
We are a tutoring and test prep company. We help students with a variety of things:

– SAT/ACT preparation
– Academic tutoring (Algebra, Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, etc.)
– Guidance for College Admissions
– Practice SAT/ACT exams
– Academic guidance for students

Our specialty is getting students pointed in the right direction. Whether they choose to work with us or not, parents and students will always receive guidance from us first. Our first goal is always getting parents and students to understand and be on the same page about the student’s academics, so we take the time to understand where the student is in their academic journey, what they have accomplished thus far, where they want to go, and what their strengths are. Once we have this information, we talk the parents through an appropriate timeline for their students: which classes they should take, which standardized tests they should take, how many times they should take them, when specifically they should take them, what kind of expectations they should set for improvement, etc.

We believe that we are unique in that we often tell parents that they don’t need us. We come across so many students who hear from other companies that they need 150 hours of private tutoring to increase their SAT score from 1480 to 1520, when in reality, the 1480 is more than enough to meet the expectations of the University they are applying to. We can certainly get them from a 1480 to 1520 (within only a handful of hours), but we make the effort to contextualize the improvement for the parents. Sometimes, we have to tell them that they are just needlessly spending money to improve their score when there is no added benefit for a scholarship, or a higher chance of admission into their choice of university.

We are most proud that we provide expert guidance for parents and students and that most of our business happens from word-of-mouth referrals. We are also proud that our students achieve significant improvements in their academics, but we believe that the improvements are a byproduct of us taking the time to contextualize the students’ academics within a larger framework.

We want everyone to know that, whether you are our customer or not, you will always get the correct guidance from us that takes into account the full context of the student’s academics and goals.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
We are located in Suwanee, and the city is one of the most lively cities in the area. They always have events going on and people are so involved and care deeply about their city. Events usually don’t have a hard time finding volunteers and are staffed by some of the kindest people I have ever met.

I wish there were more room to expand the roads and parking areas. The city has grown so much that people from other areas flood the city during events and it becomes really congested. It has gotten better, but I imagine it’s difficult to anticipate how popular the city will become.

Pricing:

• SAT ACT Classroom Course: $699
• 1-on-1 Tutoring: $80/hr
• College Admissions Guidance: $155/hr
• Practice SAT/ACT: $0

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.CornerstoneAcademic.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cornerstoneacademic

Image Credits
All images were taken by our internal team.