photo by: Hanna Perry
Sisters Helen Bradley, left, and Sharon Johnson, owners of the IDEA Center in Warwood, discuss upcoming development plans.
The IDEA Center in Warwood, open since 2019, continues to grow and is expanding its services in several ways.
Owners Helen Bradley and Sharon Johnson, with more than 30 years of teaching experience between them, provides tutoring services for students throughout the Northern Panhandle. Children in kindergarten through ninth grade can get help in subjects like science, technology, engineering, arts, math and programming, as well as group learning activities.
“The initials IDEA in the name for The IDEA Center stand for ‘Individual, Development, and Education Assistance’” Bradley said. “Our mission is to help students who need assistance in any academic area, all ages, all levels, and we try to take them from where they are and bring them up to par and and bring them to where they need to be academically.
“We help students brush up on their study skills, their phonics, their math, their reading, and whatever else is needed,” she continued.
Bradley and Johnson hope to get a few more referrals from Brooke and Hancock counties after recently partnering with the Juvenile Mediation Program. The center is also involved with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and offers tutoring in the Northern Panhandle for young adults who may need assistance in career testing, help in their high school or college classes, or job applications.
The center also has gotten involved in West Virginia’s Hope Scholarship program, which gives gives parents the option to use a portion, $4,600, of their per-pupil expenditure from the state School Aid Formula for educational expenses, such as private-school tuition, home tutoring, learning aids and other acceptable expenses. The center provide educational services to those families enrolled in the program.
“We have about eight students that we help that come in on a weekly basis,” Bradley said. “Two of those students are homeschooled and sometimes they come in and we help them with math or with whatever they need help with.”
Bradley and Johnso also have been invited to a school choice fair scheduled for Jan. 28, 2023 at the Morgantown Marriott and sponsored by the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy. The fair will present educational entities like The IDEA Center with the opportunity to share their contributions with West Virginia students and parents advocating for school choice.
To schedule an appointment at The IDEA Center, call (304)-905-1506 or visit its Facebook page for more information.
