After a chance meeting in 2006, acquaintances Lee Brickman and Howie Forman, both former AT&T executives, with extensive communications backgrounds, were struck with an entrepreneurial idea.
Forman, a chess aficionado and Master Instructor, was consulting for a chess-in-the-schools enrichment initiative in New York City. Brickman was an adjunct professor of marketing at Centenary College in Hackettstown. Capitalizing on their individual skills, the pair conceived Enrich and Grow Academy (enrichandgrow.com), a partnership with New Jersey elementary and middle schools that offers a variety of after-school enrichment programs held on-site at the schools.
“Howie knew that chess in the schools [programs] resonated with parents because the kids were having so much fun,” says Brickman. “The key for us was to offer multiple subjects that captured a child’s imagination.”
The fifteen courses available include I Dig Dinosaurs, World of Magic, Ceramics, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Most classes are one hour, once a week, and cost about $16 each. Three, ten-week sessions are offered from September through June.
“We carefully design our classes to teach and challenge kids to learn while having loads of fun,” says director of curriculum Renee Emerich.
Annually, Enrich and Grow serves more than 45 schools and 2,000 students.