Testimonials My three kids spent a lot of years in VSA. VSA Future offers a variety of course selections to fit the needs for each of them. The teachers and staff are great to work with. My kids have been enjoying the classes. They have learned and developed so much on many different skillsets from English, Math, Reading & Writing and Public Speaking. I was not sure if the remote learning would work out. Turns out that my concerns are totally unnecessary. The director has done an amazing job for the virtual class and keep the students engaged throughout the classes. My kids did not feel much difference. The online class is definitely a saver for us during this challenging time! Really appreciate the flexibility VSA Future has offered. Kudos to the director and her staff for being flexible and good quality of classes! My son also enjoyed the virtual camp the center offers! Another great help for working parents with busy schedules . Really appreciate for everything that the center has done for us! C. Hu 5th Grader, 8th Grader, and 11th Grader My 6-year-old daughter and I both like VSA Future so much because of their excellent teaching quality, wonderful interactive communication, solid foundation the teachers build, as well as great efficiency and effectiveness. Before sending her to VSA Future in May 2020, I was worried how my daughter could accept professional academic trainings during the pandemic. After I sent her to VSA Future's English and math classes, my worry went away immediately. Instead, I can see her progress every week. I clearly remember last summer she counted 2, 4, 6, 8, up to 20 during her lunch after the math teacher taught her counting by 2s. She drew nouns, verbs and adjectives in a story using different colors after her English teacher taught her these materials. She feels the classes have so much fun that attract her to learn. I am so happy that she started to love English and math because of these amazing classes! In the past 11 months, she has made incredible progress that is much beyond what I expected her to make. Her phonics, reading, writing and math problems solving all made big progress. In addition, the logical thinking taught in her math class such as patterns greatly help her understanding music theory such as ascending and descending scales, intervals and triads. In short, I highly recommend VSA Future! Parent 1st Grader Exemplary curriculum, excellent and inspiring teachers, a thoughtful and proactive director…both of my kids have great learning experience and made so much progress at VSA Future! Especially for my 5th grader who suffers ASD and has short attention span. I was worried if he’s able to handle the classes or get anything out of it. It turned out he enjoyed all the classes – Math, English and RW! VSA teachers pay great attention to every kids and also has a way for kids to pay attention to their lessons! I had similar concerns when VSA Future switch to virtual, it has been proved that my concern was unnecessary – VSA Future made such a seamless transition and continued to provide high-quality classes on-line. I’m really grateful to VSA Future’s director and teachers for offering our kids such an amazing learning experience! F. Spring 5th Grader Two of my sons joined English, Math lessons, and Public Speaking lessons at VSA Future. They both learned and improved a lot from these programs. Teachers at VSA Future are kind and friendly, and the director is very responsible. They take care of every student and give suggestions. Teachers are really great and they know how to attract students’ attention and student are eager to participate in the class. We would recommend VSA Future to all other families who want their children’s literacy and math skills to improve. Parent 1st Grader and 4th Grader As a six-year summer camper and long-time student, my son is the fan of VSA Future and formerly JEI, where he learned to make public speeches, found his passion to science, shared his talent with friends, improved his writing and debating skills, explored the path to the future career, and much more. As parents, we feel confident to put our child in the hands of Julia, who cares not only about the students’ scores but also their mental growth. With Jenifer’s onboarding, VSA thrives by moving the classes online, developing more soft skill training courses, and creating the platform for kids to communicate with peers, senior students, and professionals. In VSA community, I have the chance to learn and discuss with other parents about how to motivate children, how to transfer my role from my son’s instructor to his consultant, and eventually to survive the difficult times with my teen. I take Julia as both my mentor and a friend. Parent 10th Grader Both my daughters (3rd grade and K) have been attending VSA during the school year and summer programs, and we are absolutely satisfied. With VSA's small class, systematic designed curriculum and high attention TA sessions, my daughters get lots of attention and accelerated their learning at least 1 grade higher than their gifted public school class. We prefer the online class over in person, as we save travel time for multiple activities throughout the day and the small class give plenty of attention to my kids. What I appreciate VSA most is its philosophy: to motivate the student as a whole person, instead of only focus on academic advancement. My older daughter has speech, maths, reading and writing class. I'd recommend any friend of mine to VSA. Parent 1st Grader and 3rd Grader My son has been taking VSA courses for years and we all have very good experiences. First, my son enjoyed the classes. The teachers are very good to engage the students during each class and conduct the sessions with very high quality. Second, the director, Dr.Julia, is excellent in motivating and inspiring the students, as well as help the staying focused. My son has very short attention span, it's really amazing that he can stay focused and learn from VSA classes. We see the difference he made academically over the years and he wouldn't be where he is without VSA Future. We feel very lucky and grateful that we chose and stayed with VSA Future. Parent 5th Grader I am very happy with the online learning programs at VSA Future! Both of my kids take English and math lessons at VSA Future. My younger one is 6 years old and I was worried at the beginning. But since the very first class I have been surprised how much she really enjoyed it! Ms. Debbie was wonderful in engaging everyone in the class and my 6-year-old was able to focus the whole time. I can tell that my daughter is making a lot of progress after a few weeks. Now she is really looking forward to the two classes every week and I could finally get some of my own work done since she could be completely independent during the class time! Ms. Maria is also great in the math class: she is able to cover different topics each class, like the numbers family, telling time, and counting money, etc. Switching between subjects certainly helps the kids focus and be fully engaged during the hour. The admins are always helpful too! The director is very quick in responding to whatever questions I have. I trust that my kids are in good hands with VSA Future and could really learn a lot from these remote learning programs! Parent Kindergarten and 6th Grader The remote learning experience with VSA Future is GREAT! I thought remote learning would be very challenging when I first heard about it—if it is challenging for adults to work from home, how could VSA Future manage so many kids at the same time? However, I am happily surprised—the classes have gone very well. Academically, we got the same classes and learning plans without any disruption. In addition, we got one extra class per week, which is awesome! I appreciate that my son has extra learning opportunities, and I now have some time to do my personal work, instead of turning on the TV to entertain him when I am busy. VSA Future teachers are so supportive and dedicated. The Director calls every parent before class if their kids forgot the class or are late. Now it is a new routine for my family. Keep learning and growing and save commute time with VSA Future. Do not spoil me, I am getting used to this new learning model! Parent 3rd Grader Two of my sons joined English, Math lessons, and Public Speaking lessons at VSA Future. They both learned and improved a lot from these programs. Teachers at VSA Future are kind and friendly, and the director is very responsible. They take care of every student and give suggestions. Teachers are really great and they know how to attract students’ attention and student are eager to participate in the class. We would recommend VSA Future to all other families who want their children’s literacy and math skills to improve. Parent 2nd Grader My two kids are in 8th grade and 6th grade. They have been taking Reading and Writing and ELA classes at VSA Future. Some parents asked me if VSA Future helps. I’d like to share my two cents as a first-generation immigrant living in the US for 20 years. Language learning is a life-long experience. There is no shortcut, no surprise. Practice makes perfect. Improvement and interest come naturally as we keep doing it. Language skills are critical and usually ignored by people like me, their major was in STEM. As a software engineer, one of my great regrets is I didn’t read much in literature, in history, in humanities, at school. Coincidentally, a lot of my college classmates feel the same. Language is not only a skill. Reading helps people to understand the world and life. A few months ago, nobody would’ve imagined online learning and work from home would become the new normal. I’m glad to see that my kids’ online classes with VSA are performing well. My son also takes public speaking at VSA. In his speech, he talks about why school should always be online, even after Coronavirus. In his view, online classes are the most effective way for both kids and school. As a parent, I appreciate that VSA Future encourages its students to speak their own thoughts, without judging or criticizing, but with guidance. I feel lucky that the Director of the VSA Future has the vision for the center to support and help the kids to be successful in their life, not only academically, but on every aspect as a person. Parent 6th Grader and 8th Grader Remote learning has brought challenges to parents and students. I was initially concerned that my 6-year-old daughter would not be able to stay focused for the entire session. I am glad to find out that the VSA Future are very good at keeping students engaged during online classes. There is a lot of interaction between the teachers and the students. The teachers constantly challenge the class with questions and do not leave out any students. The director monitors the online classes closely. She reached out to me a couple of times, by phone and text message, when I forgot to set up the Zoom meetings for my daughter. I have confidence in the director and the quality of the education provided by VSA Future. Parent 1st Grader and 6th Grader I have three kids. VSA Future offers a variety of course selections to fit the needs for each of my child. The teachers and staff are great to work with. My kids have been enjoying the classes. They have learned and developed so much on many different skillsets from English, Math, Reading & Writing and Public Speaking. I was not sure if the remote learning would work out. Turns out that my concerns are totally unnecessary. The director has done an amazing job for the virtual class. My kids did not feel much difference. The online class is definitely a saver for us during this challenging time! Really appreciate the flexibility VSA Future has offered. Kudos to the director and her staff for being flexible and good quality of classes! Given the current environment where the on-site camping is not realistic, I am very excited that the center offers virtual camp! Another great help just in time for working parent. It keeps them busy and they will continue to learn! Can’t wait to join the camp. Really appreciate for all the center has done for us! Parent 4th Grader, 7th Grader, and 10th Grader “The minute I heard that my son was accepted by NYU, I couldn’t believe it was true. Our family is extremely grateful to VSA Future and their teachers who helped my son go through the difficult college application process. No language can express our family’s feelings—all I want to say is We thank all of the teachers at VSA Future from the bottom of our hearts." At first, my son could barely be convinced to meet a college counselor. After VSA Director Dr. Julia had just a one-hour conversation with my son, she had the unbelievable ability to grab my son’s attention and make him believe that he had potential. Ever since, he has become a highly motivated student. Three VSA college counselors helped him with every aspect of the application process, from choosing colleges, visiting campuses, writing college essays, filling out and submitting application forms, and training his interview skills. Before his NYU interview, Dr. Julia discussed interview skills, the appropriate dress code, and questions to ask with my son, which gave him the confidence he needed to do well on the interview. Now whenever my son has any questions, he always turns to his VSA Future teachers and Dr. Julia. Remarkably, his teenage rebellion has disappeared completely, and his relationship with us has become much better. VSA counselors are extremely responsible and patient with all of their students. It was my extraordinary luck that I brought my son to VSA Future. With their professional guidance, my son has moved from the most difficult period in his life. More importantly, VSA Future has improved my son’s motivation to study and confidence. Thank you to all of the teachers and Dr. Julia at VSA Future!” Parent NYU Class of 2020 “VSA Future made the whole college application process painlessly achievable." They provided reliable answers to any questions I might have about colleges, and my counselor and Dr. Julia were extremely helpful in selecting a list of balanced schools and refining my essays. Their support helped me feel less stressed throughout the process. I was accepted by NYU during early decision. I’m so lucky that I chose VSA Future.” Student NYU Class of 2022 Used VSA for SAT 1:1 tutoring. Compared to other places, their approach was more attuned to getting the most out of my daughter's specific strengths and weaknesses, not just going through a preplanned curriculum or teaching her a few test-taking 'tricks'. Moreover, there was constant communication with both the tutor (Dr. A) and the director (Julia). Always felt like my daughter was in good hands, with people who were genuinely trying to help her do her best. I don't usually write reviews, but I feel strongly that this is the best choice out there, and want to tell people about it! A. Chen 11th Grader My son loves VSA’s online writing classes! He tried several different online writing classes and likes VSA’s class the most. VSA’s unique teaching approach enables young writers to focus on one piece of writing project and improve polishing skills. Students get enough time to practice learned writing skills rather than rushing through homework. My son has improved on both spelling and sentence structure in 3 months. We will definitely continue with VSA for future writing classes. W. Pan 3rd Grader I have 3 elementary school age children in 1st, 3rd and 5th grade. Thanks to VSA Future’s online learning, they are ahead of their school curriculum and have become more confident academically. VSA Future pays great attention to each of the students and puts in extra resources and efforts to ensure quality of online learning. VSA utilizes multiple advanced technologies and online learning tools for students to have instantaneous interactions. As a result, kids are very engaged during the classes and they get extra homework and practice time to reinforce concepts. Most importantly, the quality of teachers from VSA are top-notch and very experienced to inspire each individual to learn and improve. Thank you VSA Future and teachers! You are the best! Parent 1st Grader, 3rd Grader, and 5th Grader My two kids are in 9th grade and 7th grade. They have been taking Reading and Writing and ELA classes at VSA Future. Some parents asked me if VSA Future helps. I’d like to share my two cents as a first-generation immigrant living in the US for 20 years. Language learning is a life-long experience. There is no shortcut, no surprise. Practice makes perfect. Improvement and interest come naturally as we keep doing it. Language skills are critical and usually ignored by people like me, their major was in STEM. As a software engineer, one of my great regrets is I didn’t read much in literature, in history, in humanities, at school. Coincidentally, a lot of my college classmates feel the same. Language is not only a skill. Reading helps people to understand the world and life. A few months ago, nobody would’ve imagined online learning and work from home would become the new normal. I’m glad to see that my kids’ online classes with VSA are performing well. My son also takes public speaking at VSA. In his speech, he talks about why school should always be online, even after Coronavirus. In his view, online classes are the most effective way for both kids and school. As a parent, I appreciate that VSA Future encourages its students to speak their own thoughts, without judging or criticizing, but with guidance. I feel lucky that the Director of the VSA Future has the vision for the center to support and help the kids to be successful in their life, not only academically, but on every aspect as a person. H. Liu 7th Grader and 9th Grader I am very happy with the online learning programs at VSA Future! Both of my kids take English and math lessons at VSA Future. My younger one is 6 years old and she has been with VSA for about a year. The interactions between the teacher and kids are amazing! Since the very first class I have been surprised to see how much she really enjoyed it! Ms. Gianna was wonderful in engaging everyone in the class and my 6-year-old was able to focus for the whole time. I can tell that my daughter is making a lot of progress after a few weeks. Now she is really looking forward to the two classes every week and I could finally get some of my own work done since she could be completely independent during the class time! Ms. Melissa is also great in the math class: she is able to cover different topics each class, like the numbers family, telling time, and counting money, etc. Switching between subjects certainly helps the kids focus and be fully engaged during the hour. The admins are always helpful too! The director is very quick in responding to whatever questions I have. I trust that my kids are in good hands with VSA Future and could really learn a lot from these remote learning programs! Parent 2nd Grader and 8th Grader The time I spent at Julia's Learning Center's writing class was long and beneficial. Since I was 6, I had attended writing classes with countless teachers. These writing classes, along with the English classes, helped me develop my grammar and sentence structure. With these classes, I was able to rediscover writing as a whole and embellish every sentence in my essays. My vocabulary greatly improved as well. Besides writing, these writing classes gave me a fun environment to learn in before COVID. Each year, I bonded with my classmates and had a blast partaking in the course. As amazing as this program was, COVID sucked the life out of the class, making it less fun and interactive. Talented teachers still guided me through my writing journey, helping me improve greatly. my favorite teacher, Ms. Jennifer, was close in age to me so she could relate to the rest of my class. This gave her a better connection to current writing and helped her bond with us. She also gave everyone helpful feedback without writing the entire essay for the student. She helped me edit all of my Scholastic essays, three of which won regional awards. Overall, I could not be more thankful to have Julia's Learning Center writing in my pocket, ready for me to take out and pour onto an English paper. Yet as worthwhile as this class was, I relish the days of in-person Julia's Learning Center, where I could combine enthusiasm with education. Parent 10th Grader My daughter has been taking VSA Future courses over the years. Dr. Julia and her team at VSA are very engaged in designing curriculum for students at different levels, providing good quality lectures, and always encouraging class participation. Dr. Julia organizes seminars and parent teacher conferences periodically for smooth and transparent communication between the parents and teachers. The online course provides more flexibility and uninterrupted learning during the pandemic. The Writing Extra Help Session is extremely helpful to make sure that the students finish weekly homework on time. What I specially appreciate is that VSA focuses on developing good learning habits which will benefit the students in the long term. I can see my daughter grow with more confidence in reading, writing, and public speaking. I feel very fortunate and will definitely continue staying with VSA Future Parent 8th Grader "More importantly, he is more confident in expressing his ideas especially in front of his classmates and teachers. With his well-prepared curriculums, the teacher made class interesting and easier." A VSA Future teacher has been tutoring Andrew for almost one and half years. We can clearly tell in the past year, Andrew made lots of progress on his reading, writing, and speaking. More importantly, he is more confident in expressing his ideas especially in front of his classmates and teachers. With his well-prepared curriculums, the teacher made class interesting and easier. For example, poem writing is a hard topic for students. But under the teacher’s guidance, with carefully analyzing sample poems, learning the techniques on rhythming and organizing stanzas, Andrew really enjoyed writing multiple decent haikus and sonnets by himself. Also students' tutoring progress is well-communicated with parents. After every class, we will receive a summary on the class content, student's general performance, and assignments, etc, so we know exactly what part Andrew is doing well, and what part he needs to work harder. Andrew has been very happy working with the VSA Future teacher and we really appreciated the teacher's great help to Andrew. Thank you so much! Parent 6th Grader I have 3 elementary school age children in 1st, 3rd and 5th grade. Thanks to VSA Future’s online learning, they are ahead of their school curriculum and have become more confident academically. VSA Future pays great attention to each of the students and puts in extra resources and efforts to ensure quality of online learning. VSA utilizes multiple advanced technologies and online learning tools for students to have instantaneous interactions. As a result, kids are very engaged during the classes and they get extra homework and practice time to reinforce concepts. Most importantly, the quality of teachers from VSA are top-notch and very experienced to inspire each individual to learn and improve. Thank you VSA Future and teachers! You are the best! Parent 1st Grader, 3rd Grader, and 5th Grader For the past two years, A VSA Future teacher has been tutoring me every week. In this time, he taught me so many interesting things. We started with poetry. He taught me how to examine and analyze poetry, which helped me identify the different literary devices and formats poets used. After that, we worked on writing poetry. For every unit that we did, four so far, he taught me the skills and tricks that were required to make my writing better. He slowly increased the difficulty, giving me a challenge every lesson, yet still keeping it at a difficulty that I could understand. Slowly yet surely, I started to implement the skills he taught me in my writing, which helped me greatly improve my writing. Kyle 6th Grader Writing my personal statement for medical school was one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced. To help, VSA editor Jennifer first talked extensively with me to learn more about my experiences and passion for medicine. Our conversation made me think deeper about myself as an applicant, and after Jennifer’s feedback and edits, I could see my personality emerge more vividly from my statement. Everything she suggested made my essay more personal and believable, bolstering my application as a whole. I continued to work with VSA for my secondary applications, where Jennifer pointed out specifics I could add to strengthen my writing. It was a great learning experience, and I could tell that I was improving in my grammar, word use, and essay structures. Throughout the process, Jennifer was incredibly encouraging and offered constructive feedback. Although she worked remotely, she was very responsive and available with emails. I can’t thank VSA Future enough for their skillful counselors and helpful resources, and I would recommend them to anyone applying to college or professional schools. Student Medical School Applicant “I am extremely grateful to Jennifer and the VSA Team for their guidance throughout my application process. As someone who started extremely late in the application season and decided to apply to a large number of schools, Jennifer made the seemingly daunting and stressful process much more manageable and made me feel much more confident in my applications." While Jennifer worked remotely, she was always very accessible, as I could easily reach her by email, video calls, or phone calls. We talked and communicated very often, regrouping every so often to make sure we were on the same page then plan for the next step. Throughout the process, whenever I had any questions or faced any obstacles, I could shoot an email to Jenniferand receive a quick response. Whenever I had a draft I wanted Jennifer to look over, she was quick to provide helpful and constructive feedback, allowing me to develop my ideas fully. When we first started working together, Jennifer set up a video call to get to know me as a person, which I believed was crucial to helping me build a profile for colleges to see since I was trying to show myself clearly on a few pieces of paper. By the end of the application process, Jennifer knew me better than most people, which translated well in her feedback and advice about my essays. Jennifer and the VSA Team were always available to assist me whenever I needed. Their goal was not to just fulfill a business contract, but to work to truly help me through the application process. Student Princeton Class of 2022 “We are very grateful to Dr. Julia and the VSA team for their expert guidance on our nephew’s college application. With their help, my nephew now attends his favorite school and is studying for his dream profession. My nephew began working on his essays over the summer, but he wasn’t satisfied after multiple revisions. When my nephew was frustrated that his school’s college counselors were too busy to be of much help, I hoped that a private counselor could help him with his specific needs. In early October, we went to talk to Dr. Julia and her team of counselors. They were very patient and helped him sort out his ideas, analyzed the schools he was interested in, made an application schedule, and planned his school visits. After discussing with his VSA counselors, he decided to revise his essay and eventually wrote about the event with the greatest impact on his life so far. VSA helped my nephew showcase his commitment to others and the sacrifices he had made for those he loved through his writing, and he was able to write the most honest and sincere essay possible. His VSA team not only guided him through his application—more importantly, they also improved his self-confidence. Under their guidance, he completed all of his applications on schedule, and he was admitted to the vast majority of his schools. He was able to have his pick of schools, and he decided to go with his first choice, which allowed him to pursue his academic and professional goals. For his career choice, his school ranks in the top five. He is extremely happy now at university. Once again, we are very grateful to the entire VSA counseling team, whose help made our nephew’s application process a stress-free and successful one!” Parent University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Class of 2020 "I would highly recommend VSA’s counseling services to anyone eager to bring their college application to the next level." Working with Jennifer and VSA during my college application season not only helped me to vastly enhance my personal statement and supplementary essays, but also to think more deeply about my own goals and experiences as well as how to translate that into my writing in an expressive and persuasive manner. Throughout the entire process, Jennifer was incredibly supportive and offered constructive feedback as to how I could let my personality and voice shine through in my whole application. Student University of Michigan Class of 2022
