Now is the time to enroll children into kindergarten.
So said the officials from Montessori Kids Universe of Hillsborough who are encouraging parents/guardians interested in the program to enlist their children before the end of June.
A staff member from MKU, Elina Burdin, said that people who enroll their child before June 30 can receive one month’s tuition for free.
Over the years, officials from the program said that college admissions have become increasingly competitive. Thirty years ago, only half of all high school students were applying to colleges, whereas today, almost two-thirds are applying, and there are more students applying to more schools making the acceptance rates plummet, according to MKU officials.
MKU officials said that in 1975, only 3.2% of students applied to seven or more colleges compared to the students in New Jersey who on in 2015 applied to an average of 45 schools each. With technology and an increasingly standardized process, officials said that applying to more schools becomes easier, significantly increasing the applicant pool of each school and driving down the acceptance rates.
MKU officials explained that universities like Stanford are rejecting 96% of their applicants, most of which have perfect SAT or ACT scores.
“Because of this, it becomes vital to be able to stand out and be exceptional,” the MKU staff said in a statement. “To have great grades, great extracurriculars, exceptional test scores, and overall stand out in the crowd, is not an easy task and is impossible to achieve without starting at the very beginning. Starting on the path to educational success and admission into a dream school must begin at a young age.
“The skills vital for long term success need to be developed and fostered at this age, rather than later, in order to ensure that the benefits are retained in the long term. Skills such as concentration, focus, independence, confidence and drive are imperative for a child to have a chance at reaching their full potential,” the staff added.
MKU officials said the full-day kindergarten program is aimed to foster skills and fill a young student’s educational tool box with everything they need to be exceptional and stand out of the dense pool of college applicants.
Officials said that the Hillsborough location follows the “Montessori Method down to the core.”
“From having mixed age classrooms, hands on learning, authentic materials and philosophy following Dr. Maria Montessori’s scientific studies of child development, MKU is an ideal setting to help foster your child’s learning path from a young age that is centered around the individual needs of every student, Montessori Kids,” Burdin said. “Universe wants to provide the best possible learning environment for your child to thrive and be able to reach their full potential.”
Officials said the program offers yoga, intense Spanish, Unique Art Studio with a professional certified art teacher, soccer, dance, drama and public speaking as well.
“We believe that a quality education does not follow a pre-set curriculum, but rather allows students to work at their own pace and follow their interests that typically exceed what they would be able to do at other preschools that do not follow Montessori philosophy,” Burdin said. “A three-year-old learning the geography of North America and while barely able to pronounce countries like Nicaragua, learning where on the map it goes. A four-year-old learning how to read sight words and turning it into a fun game all by himself. A five-year-old doing triple digit addition. That is our classroom every day. Our classrooms employ lower student to teacher ratios than is typically recommended in order to allow each child to get more attention.”
In addition, MKU officials said that the location follows strict health code and cleanliness standards to ensure the students’ health and wellbeing.
For parents/guardians interested in enrolling their youths in the program, they are encouraged to call Montessori Kids Universe at 908-336-1211.
