Business View Magazine - November 2016

Business View Magazine - November 2016 47 Dhillon believes that what makes Genius Kids special is that is has its own curriculum, written in-house, by Dhillon, herself, and is unique to her experience as a scientist and trained public speaker. “I have created lessons that teach public speaking all day long,” she states. “Even your infant or toddler will have a micro- phone in hand. Everything we do – it doesn’t matter whether we’re teaching math or science or reading or art – everything goes back to building confidence and public speaking - etiquette, protocol, how to stand – these are things we incorporate every day. I think that’s very unique to us. We have two-and-a-half-year- olds who give wonderful speeches on stage because they do public speaking all day long.” The Genius Kids franchise has three brands: The Lil’ Genius Kid that caters to day care ages 0-6; the Genius Kids Club that caters to after school enrichment; and Genius Kids that does both. Dhillon has also created her own doppelganger – a cartoon character named Miss Rennu – who appears in all of the centers’ teaching videos. “The reason I did that was because when we were running our own cen- ters, everybody was coming back and saying, ‘I want you to teach my child; it has to be you, Miss Rennu!’ I thought to myself, ‘How am I ever going to multiply my- self in five classrooms? There has to be a way in which Miss Rennu can be in all these classrooms teaching, and yet, not physically be there.’ So, now, I’m in ev- ery classroom; it’s my voice that teaches. I am there, teaching. Also, in this way, the curriculum is consis- tent. We’re not relying on the teacher in the classroom. At Genius Kids, we’re relying on the curriculum.” Another pioneering, educational initiative that Dhillon introduced was the use of smart boards as a learning tool. “I know a lot of people are using smart boards, now, but when we started preschool, 16 years ago, I don’t believe anybody was using smart boards at that time,” she says. “They’re very interactive and the kids are always engaged. Kids are doing it now with IPads and smart boards in public school, but we introduced