The Honors Review Learning Center is the newest business to open up shop in the Plainsboro Village Center, relocating from its former location in West Windsor.##M:[more]##
Owner Grace Park says she opened up the learning center, part of a franchise, four years ago at 37 Station Drive, near the Princeton Junction train station, based on the demand for programs like hers in the area.
“In this location and in this area, the most interesting part is the education,” says Park, who moved to Princeton in 2005 with her husband and two sons. “They want a high quality educational environment.” One of her sons is a junior at New York University’s Stern School of Business, and the other is enrolled in the pre-med program at Rutgers University.
While Park says she thought the Station Drive location would be ideal, with commuters and residents coming through the area on a daily basis, then decided it would be better to move to Plainsboro, which provided more of a quaint and tranquil atmosphere.
“We found this location is best because the new library is opening up and the new Princeton hospital is coming” into town, says Park. And the location allows the business to remain within reach to clientele from the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district.
The Honors Review Learning Center offers enrichment and test preparation programs geared at preparing students to excel in their academic pursuits, most notably on the SAT. Among these prep courses is the SOS (Secrets of SAT) intensive SAT classes.
Programs in high demand include the Success English course for ninth and tenth graders, which is a precursor to the SAT reasoning test that prepares students for critical reading and writing skills and AP-level novel comprehension skills; the Power Writing course, which is a one-on-one workshop on essay writing; Honors Reading Navigator, which exposes children to award-winning literature, guided reading homework, and reading comprehension tests, which helps build analytical reading and writing skills; and Honors Math.
The learning center also offers classes aimed at helping students excel on other state-wide tests, like the NJASK, TOEFL, and GEPA. It also offers classes to help students with the ACT, SAT I and II subject tests, writing and reading tests, and even the Math Olympiad.
College counseling, which is designed to develop a student’s self-awareness of talents and help him or her to relate them to career goals, is also offered. Part of the college counseling entails teaching the college application process, including application essays, resumes, and art or writing portfolios.
This summer the Honors Review Learning Center is also offering summer programs through August 21 for children at various grade levels, including as early as kindergarten. And Park says the grand opening specials included a college counseling seminar, which will begin in the third week of July.
The facility, which overlooks the new Plainsboro library facility and utilizes lots of natural light, features nine classrooms on the upper level of the Market Street building.
The business’s hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and by appointment on weekends.
Honors Review, 5 Market Street, Suite 520, Plainsboro 08536; 609-799-1212. Grace Park, director. Home page: www.4honors.com.
Affordable Housing Ordinance Adopted
Plainsboro has adopted an ordinance as a formality to enforce its affordable housing plan that addresses its third-round fair share obligations under the state Council on Affordable Housing.
As reported in the News last month, Plainsboro received COAH approval for its fair share plan, introduced the ordinance, and adopted the ordinance after a public hearing on July 8.
The ordinance memorializes the township’s fair share plan in ordinance form as a formality to comply with COAH requirements.
Bond Ordinance. In other business during the meeting, the Township Committee introduced a bond ordinance to cover various general improvements as called for in this year’s budgets.
About $3 million of the $4.054 million in projects called for in the ordinance will be spent on road improvements and renovations to the existing library once the new library opens. Other projects include smaller park improvements, the next phase of the bike path, replacement of the police in-car video systems, purchase of a new truck for the Public Works department and the purchase of a new Voice Over IP system for the township building.
The township will issue $3.444 million in bonds to cover the costs and will make a down payment of $181,”275, and use a $421,”000 grant.
In other business during the meeting, the committee also introduced a salary ordinance that would increase the annual pay for non-union township personnel by 3.5 percent, “consistent with the marketplace,” said Township Administrator Robert Sheehan.
The committee will hold a public hearing on both of these ordinances on Wednesday, August 12.
The committee also awarded contracts to three vendors totaling $382,”912.70 for furniture for the new library. The three bidders were EvensonBest, of New York, who received $265,”765.60; Business Furniture, of Parsippany, who received $62,”641.68; and Feigus Office Furniture, of Howell, who received $54,”505.42.
