Sylvan Learning coming to Winter Park

Looking to get your students off to a good start in school? Some help is on the way.

A new Sylvan Learning is set to arrive in Winter Park this fall, giving students a new place to brush up on reading, writing and math to set themselves up for success.

It’s the latest location opening up for Sylvan Learning franchisee William Silva, who already runs a location in Ocoee that he opened in November 2017. An exact location has been chosen for the new Winter Park center, but the address won’t be revealed until later, because the leasing agreement is still being finalized, Silva said.

“I’m very excited, because my first experience was here in Ocoee, and it’s been a very good experience,” he said. “We’re a good center for the community, and parents are coming, and they love (what we do) were. We’re showing parents results — this is the most important thing. That’s why we think it’s important to have more locations, because I actually have some students coming from Winter Park (to Ocoee).”

The centers give students in kindergarten through 12th grade a place where they can work one-on-one with teachers in a personalized program. Students are given academic coaching and study skills they can use on their own. High-school students even can go to Sylvan to prepare for the SAT and the ACT.

Silva’s Ocoee Sylvan Learning location — as well as the future Winter Park location — also includes a Fisk center, which teaches English to anyone looking to learn the language.

Sylvan Learning vice president of franchise development Georgia Chasen said a Winter Park location has been a long time coming.

“I am so excited not just about William and his expansion, but for Winter Park to have a center,” Chasen said. “I’ve been with Sylvan for almost 12 years, and (Winter Park) is an area that has come up repeatedly in my reviews of demographic information of an area that would really benefit from a Sylvan. There is a focus on education in that area. … It really positions the community to well-receive a Sylvan Learning center.”

Chasen said research from a third party shows that students who attend Sylvan generally are able to make more than two times the academic progress than students only attending school. Learning material beyond the classroom at a place like Sylvan Learning makes a difference, she said.

Silva said he plans to open the Sylvan Learning in Winter Park by late September/early October.