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Date: 9/6/2023
WILBRAHAM — In a small, unassuming storefront in Wilbraham, Varna Naik helps clients engage in powerful learning. Naik is the owner and founder of InfinityEd, a tutoring service at 2141 Boston Rd. The brick-and-mortar location is the latest incarnation of services Naik has offered for over a decade.
“I was always a strong student without having to try,” Naik said. When she was in college, a professor suggested she work as a tutor. When she began tutoring other college students, she said, “I was shocked. I saw full-grown adults cry over math homework.
Naik began working with clients on mathematics, but she found they were struggling, in part, because their reading comprehension levels were low. “I said, ‘Okay, we’ve got to start there.’”
When Naik left college, she began InfinityEd as an in-home service and traveled to clients around New York and New England. In early 2020, Naik planned to open a base of operations in Amherst. While she had always provided some services remotely, the coronavirus pandemic derailed her plans and forced all her sessions to go online.
The paradigm shift that saw people move to learning and doing business online was not all negative for InfinityEd. “Some kids rather learn online,” Naik said. She no longer needs to travel around New York and New England because of remote learning options and has clients around the country. It is also easier to fit tutoring into client schedules. She has had students log into sessions with her during study periods while they’re on their school campuses.
InfinityEd now has two people on staff. Naik specializes in math tutoring and working with people with what she called “learning differences” and various neurodiversities. Her colleague, Ashton Hooley, primarily works with clients on English language arts and history. Naik plans to eventually seek accreditation for the service.
InfinityEd works with clients from age 5 through adulthood. Naik is working with one client in their 50s who struggled throughout school. More than 300 clients have received services through the business, she said.
If someone is interested in receiving services through InfinityEd, Naik said the business offers a free trial consultation to see if the tutors and the clients are a good fit. Having a rapport with a tutor is an important part of learning. She said, “Kids can see it on your face. If they feel like you’re not there for them, they’re going to shut off.”
InfinityEd customizes lessons to the individual students and how they best learn. Naik uses a variety of tools, including math manipulatives. Textured number flash cards are especially helpful for students with sensory sensitivities, because they incorporate a tactile sensation when tracing the shapes. “Beast Academy” comic books, produced by Art of Problem Solving, are useful because the medium provides a narrative to explain why math is needed in real world situations. Naik also uses art to explore STEM concepts. “Secretly, they’re learning geometry.”
Naik said several issues are inherent in the American educational system that she would like to see change. One problem is that it is too rigid, she said, adding that she disagrees with tying grades to cohorts of children the same age. According to Naik, this leads to advanced students being bored with the classroom content, while struggling students are passed along to the next grade without engaging and fully understanding the coursework. Naik said much of the problem can be traced back to No Child Left Behind Act, a 2001 law signed by then-president George W. Bush, which was designed to help students in historically disadvantaged groups by instituting penalties for schools with low test scores.
She also said math is not taught with interesting methods. “What you need to work with is real world” concepts, Naik said. She also said working from a mindset that there is only one way to solve a problem leads people to believe they are either born with math skills or they are not, however she acknowledged that attitude toward learning is changing in schools.
That said, Naik has a great deal of admiration for teachers. “Teachers aren’t respected enough,” or paid enough, she said. “In Asian countries,” she noted, “teachers are more highly respected than doctors and engineers.”
To learn more about InfinityEd, contact 914-374-3452 or Varna.naik@infinityed.us.