Study Hub

Residents of Choctaw will have noticed The Study Hub in town for years. Ten years, to be exact. They just celebrated their first decade! But perhaps you aren’t familiar with what happens there or what their mission is. We have quite a treasure in our midst.

Inside a bright, spacious office building that has been divided into smaller rooms and dedicated areas, The Study Hub looks and feels like an amalgam of everyone’s favorite classrooms from childhood: Clean tables surrounded by just a few chairs, cork boards decorated with colorful visual aides and white boards scrawled with instruction, bookshelves loaded with a variety of books, smooth carpets on the floor, art on the walls, live plants. It is a welcoming space that manages to be both calming and stimulating. What sets it apart from those favorite classrooms is that the Study Hub is not crowded; it is designed for one-on-one, customized attention.

The Study Hub is a tutoring center for students of all grades and ages, even adults. Their mission is to “help students reach their full potential,” and they do so with laser focus and great affection. As owner Kari Smith wrote, “Every student who walks through our doors receives individualized instruction designed to meet their unique learning needs. We believe students learn best when they feel encouraged, understood, and challenged at the right pace.”

Kari’s early career as a special education teacher gave her a unique perspective on how students with dyslexia were struggling in a traditional classroom environment and how that struggle would inevitably, and in compound ways, affect the rest of the student’s school experience. Trained in and passionate about the Wilson reading system, which is based on the Orton-Gillingham principles, she decided to locate the root of why students were struggling and address that, one person at a time. Kari explained that the Wilson Reading System has an ethos of “teaching to mastery.” They do not allow for skipping past difficult sections and hoping that it will all come together. Then she observed lovingly that each person will need a different amount of time and a unique sort of attention to gain mastery, but it’s crucial. And it’s possible. The way her face lit up as she described this and laughingly apologized for “nerding out” made me want to learn more. She oozed passion for her vocation of helping students.

The Study Hub may devote much of its time and energy to helping with dyslexia, but that is far from all they do. Their professional educators on staff offer help at all levels of mathematics, reading comprehension, science, fun single-subject camps to boost confidence, ACT and SAT test prep, Spanish, and much more. Regardless of what a student needs, they will assess and approach it with individualized attention.

The Study Hub is available to all students, whether they attend public or private schools, are homeschooled, or use a charter school voucher. And yes! Charter school vouchers can also be used to pay tutoring fees. They have clients from across the map and from all walks of life. They even help adults who need help preparing for a professional or trade exam (like EMS, nursing exams, or even firefighters) or adults who never got help with dyslexia and are ready for it.

‍ ‍DeeDee Devine, Director of the Choctaw branch, possesses a magnetism that only the most inspired people do- those most aligned with their work. She came to the Study Hub with a son who needed a boost and fell in love with it all. She had already been an educator for twenty-five years when she joined the team. Now, in addition to leading the Choctaw branch, she visits area schools to help arm teachers with what she has learned. She described how helpful this training would have been in her classroom years. Teachers are sometimes spread too thinly but very much want to help every student with more specificity; they just lack the time or resources. Study Hub fills this gap and then some.

DeeDee smiled broadly while recounting a recent client phone call. A mother told her this is the first time her son is returning to the new school year with confidence. What a game changer, to be happy about going back to school! And this is just one of hundreds of success stories. They have happy clients who simply need help to pass one difficult test and others who stay for a few months to catch up in a challenging subject. They also have happy clients who return year after year, advancing through increasingly more difficult math courses or preparing for the ACT or SAT. Explore the Study Hub website, and you will find pages of testimonials from parents whose kids have transformed with this customized attention. Every story is heartwarming and exciting.

Asked what message they would relay to the community, both Kari and DeeDee leaned forward, smiled, and said with enthusiasm, “Don’t wait!” If you have a child who is struggling in any area of their education, just schedule an assessment. “Why struggle?” they agreed. Parent after parent has shared that they wish they had found help sooner. This kind of attention will save you time and stress, and it will help your kids build their learning skills and enjoy school much more.

Friends, if you are interested in helping the Study Hub in their mission to serve our community, consider donating school supplies or tiny items like candy, small toys, and stickers for their incentivized Treasure Chest. Kids of all ages love this aspect of their time there!

Thank you for sharing your work, Kari and DeeDee. How inspiring! The Greater Choctaw Area is so lucky to have the flagship Study Hub right here in our neighborhood! In just one decade, they have grown to ten locations, serving more than 4,000 students and families. They have a lot to be proud of, and as their neighbors, so do we.