what
began as
mere nectar...
Hello! I'm Emily Wood, founder and "ultimate queen bee" of Apiary Academics. As a college student attempting to survive virtual learning in the middle of a global pandemic, I wish I could remember if Apiary Academics began over a cup of coffee or a glass of sauvignon blanc... to be honest, it was probably the latter.
It started with a reflection on how difficult the transition to online learning was for me, a 22-year-old adult who was relatively tech-savvy and had their life relatively together. How was this transition
remotely reasonable for elementary, middle, and even high school-aged students? How were these kids getting access to technology at home, let alone functioning and learning from it? How was the next generation coping with the changing world around them, and somehow able to prioritize their education?
The answer was obvious. They weren't.
blossomed into lots of honey...
So I grabbed some of the most intelligent, learning-oriented, and creative people I knew. These were students and graduates of Washington University, Stanford, Duke, and Cornell, who studied the broadest range of topics – including biochemistry, anthropology, computer science, political science, environmentalism, law, and even literal rocket science. I entrusted no one else to be as competent to address the current learning challenges of our society, and this core group is now lovingly referred to as my brainkeepers (get it? like the beekeeper!)
I started to research what was on the market for tutoring options. It broadly swept into two categories, in-person and virtual. While in-person tutoring was the most traditional method, it didn't
provide flexibility to learn from any location, and it certainly wasn't a feasible option in the middle of a global pandemic. To contrast, no online tutoring services seem to provide 1:1 comprehensive support. People are often placed at random with tutors across subjects for one-time meet-and-greets, with little follow-up or relationship to build upon. Large virtual tutoring companies feel distant, overwhelming, and a bit separated from the student and all of their needs. The gap was clear.
We needed to provide completely custom tutoring, with the close mentorship that came with in-person 1:1 learning, with the flexibility and convenience of online tutoring.
and developed into a big hive!
Psst...Are you confused about the name? This is where you read!
Apiary Academics . Huh. Where did that come from? If you are like most people who don't have extensive knowledge of beekeeping, you probably are a bit lost on the apiary part.
An apiary is defined as a collection of beehives. I imagined all the students we worked with as our little bees. Bees are in the top 10 most intelligent and hardworking organisms on Earth. Each has a role, a duty, and an
important place in their home. Likewise, each student we work with plays an important role within Our Hive. As we started to grow and our students expanded across the U.S., I imagined each one of them in their own colony - the space where they worked, the community where they lived, the people they impacted. Our Hive continued to grow as we expanded our clientele with the little colonies across the country that build it up together.
Welcome to Our Hive. We are so glad you are here.