{"id":29840,"date":"2021-08-19T16:19:40","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T20:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=29840"},"modified":"2021-08-19T16:57:34","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T20:57:34","slug":"stem-minds-gives-four-fold-thanks-to-success-during-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/stem-minds-gives-four-fold-thanks-to-success-during-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"STEM Minds gives four-fold thanks to success during pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Community ties, a strong client base, staff motivation, and a strong voice where it matters most are a sure-fire formula for success in just about any arena, but for businesses weathering a global pandemic, this is especially so \u2013 just ask STEM Minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STEM Minds, a learning hub on Earl Stewart Drive focused on teaching more than just the fundamentals of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, has found this a winning formula as they move forward, and now on an international scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business was recently awarded with the Pivot Award by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, a newly-created honour within their Business Excellence Awards program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were singled out for their strong efforts in getting down to business and translating many of their popular in-person programs over to digital platforms to ensure learning \u2013 and especially having fun in learning \u2013 can continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is an absolute honour in a time which has been tough for a lot of small businesses to keep our doors open,\u201d says STEM Minds founder Anu Bidani. \u201cNo one was prepared for the pandemic so, for me, it is such an honour to be recognized as a small business in a small community where we were able to keep our doors open and continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, despite the challenges of doors having to be closed through several lockdowns, STEM Minds\u2019 growth has marched forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While new and existing local clients have continued to thrive through the online translations of their favourite programs, over-the-web platforms have allowed STEM Minds to expand their programs nationally, into the U.S., and they are now offering digital programs in Asian markets as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter where they reach, however, their heart remains in Aurora and Ms. Bidani says the community\u2019s support has been integral in their success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Chamber\u2019s award has motivated us to keep doing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt demonstrates that small businesses can keep thriving even when times are tough. There were a number of factors that made [our success] happen. One was a team of staff who are all local from York Region and live in the community, and the recognition that even though the pandemic was hard, we need to be there for the kids and families, and we have got to find solutions to stay relevant. Pivoting into virtual gave us the opportunity [to provide service and bring in revenue] and it was one very important development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second one that was very critical was government support,\u201d she continues, specifically sighting supports, including wage subsidies, from the Provincial and Federal governments. \u201cWithout that support, I don\u2019t think we would have kept our doors open. With the motivation of staff to stay relevant, the funding available to fuel that energy to want to do things made a big difference. I also think the Chamber played a very important role. They were our voices, they opened platforms for us to stay connected in the community and\u2026 it was very important to have our voices heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, the community of York Region and our client base stayed true to us. They came to us with whatever offerings we had and were very understanding and supportive. Our customers made our business continue to thrive and grow and all four themes were key in keeping our doors open during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although remaining public health restrictions mean that they\u2019re not yet able to open back up at full capacity, Ms. Bidani says they are \u201cso excited\u201d for what the fall might hold, including getting back into schools for lunchtime and after-school programs and workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want parents to be confident that their kids will enjoy the learning in a safe environment. We really encourage virtual programs so much more than we did before. We hope they will come back to our programs and join us. The new programs we\u2019re offering include e-sports, a brand-new program now. Plus, all our coding and programs\u2026. I hope parents come back and give us a try. If online learning is something they want with kids at home, we have a platform and we would love them to try that out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community ties, a strong client base, staff motivation, and a strong voice where it matters most are a sure-fire formula for success in just about any arena, but for businesses weathering a global pandemic, this is especially so \u2013 just ask STEM Minds. STEM Minds, a learning hub on Earl Stewart Drive focused on teaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/2021-08-19-09.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Li","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 13:24:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}