Business & Tech

Cobble Hill Think Tank Takes Sweet Melissa Space

The new tutoring facility comes from the owner of Big Fish.

A new tutoring business opened up in half of the space at 276 Court Street near Douglass Street over the weekend: Cobble Hill Think Tank is here to enhance the young minds of the neighborhood.

Founded by the owner and head instructor at , Lisa Bowstead, Cobble Hill Think Tank will expand upon her longstanding business of helping students achieve their academic goals by providing a space for group classes, one-on-one tutoring, and organized study time.

"I had back to back students five days a week and lots of emergencies on the weekends," said Bowstead of Big Fish Tutoring having outgrown her kitchen table, "and I was turning students away and handing them to my colleagues because I didn't tutor French or AP Calculus or Social Studies."

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So Bowstead decided that that she needed to have a space where she could pull many students and topics together, then hire a wide range of qualified teachers to instruct in the subjects that fell outside of her expertise.

"I'm trained as a middle school math teacher, so my specialties are middle school math, elementary school math, and 9th and 10th grade math" she said. "Now I can promise tutors for every language, every level of math, different aspects of English," she told Carroll Gardens Patch, while waiting for the furniture to arrive at the Think Tank.

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Additionally, plans are in the works to expand to drawing, American sign language, Greek, Latin, Mandarin, French, ESOL for adults in the evenings, SAT prep, SAT 2400, occasional CPR classes and more.

The space will hold two classrooms of up to 10 students at a time, as well as an area occupied by tutoring stations and a quiet study room monitored by someone trained in organization.

"That would be $100 a day, but you could stay from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.," said Bowstead, referring to the quiet study room. "The monitor won't tutor you in any one subject but they will teach you how to organize your studies, prioritize your studies and handle the workload that your specific school requires of you."

While Bowstead's approach to tutoring is individualized, the model for Think Tank classes will encourage students to share their learning processes with one another in an effort to promote different ways of problem solving.

She also plans for Cobble Hill Think Tank to give back to the neighborhood. 

"My block association doesn't have a meeting room at the moment, so I will offer up the space for group meetings," she said. "There are also local professionals who would happily use the space for seminars to drum up business for themselves. Alot of friends have warned me against giving away the ship. But if I have nothing scheduled, I see no reason not to offer up the space. Community is a big part of what I'm doing here."

Regular hours and class schedules are expected to begin within the next two weeks. You can contact Cobble Hill Think Tank at 718-222-8209.


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