Happy Holidays 2019!

And a Very Happy New Year! 

This is Ellen.

We are reaching out to see how you guys are doing; we know it’s been a while. 

We’ve been hard at work, continually overhauling our SAT®/ACT® prep program to be more help to even more students, so we can spread the message that everyone is capable, scholarships are out there, and that learning should be fun!!  

But it’s the holidays, I miss you, and wanted to see how you’re doing.  

Every single one of you is special to me,

and I often think of you, (yes, you!!), and hope you’re thriving. 

I just wanted to let you know.

------------ 

…We’ll get to more on that in a moment, but first we have lots of exciting things happening on our side we also wanted to share: 

1.      This year, I’m on CCISD’s Inside Committee, helping them continue their ongoing effort to improve education in our community.  Most of you come from there, and I must say, I’m highly impressed with their recent work.  I’ve definitely noticed that their students have obviously started getting more and more support from their teachers and administrators over the last five years; gone are the days when an entire classroom from that district would come to me for help with a particular teacher.  First of all, the teachers are much better trained and supported, and on the off-chance students do run into issues, they just go tell the school and the school immediately fixes it!!! 

 (Duh!  Why didn’t someone do this sooner??  :-D) 

It’s been fascinating seeing what they’re doing from the inside, though.  As a tutor and academic coach, I just see the frustration of parents and students when things don’t work, not what it takes to make sure it does work at that large of a scale.  Next step, (aside from incorporating some of what they’re already doing into our own program), is to go to the State in order to bring more of these techniques to more districts.  (Already working with contacts in TEA and state legislature…  More on this to come!) 

2.     SATisfACTion is partnering with Gallery Furniture!! 

Just for the record, Mattress Mack and his team are exactly as nice as everyone says.  I just went up there cold, introduced myself to Mack, said I own my own small tutoring company and really look up to him, and asked if I could just ask him a couple questions.  He said, “Sure, come back after baseball season.” 

The next thing I know, I’ve struck up an ongoing collaboration with his son, who is helping me set up monthly SAT®/ACT® Exam Prep workshops after the New Year, probably in their brand new atrium on Grand Parkway!!! 

In the meantime, we’ll be at their Christmas Eve Feast at 6006 N. Freeway tomorrow, (Christmas Eve), from 11AM-2PM, offering lots of fun and prizes, and between the both of us, together we are offering over $1000 in prizes as part of our SATisfACTion SAT® Exam Prep Practice Contest and general raffle.  (No purchase required for either.)  

Come check us out!!!

3.   And most near and dear to my heart: 

If we have helped you at all over the years, please let us know!!!

I’ll be honest with you.  Sometimes this job is discouraging.  My job is to always be upbeat, put on a positive face on every mistake, every setback, every heartbreak. 

I 100% believe there is always a way to reach any goal, given enough time and persistence, but sometimes it’s hard, both watching it in my students, and for myself. 

In my case, marketing has always been my Achilles’ heel, and it’s partially because I am always focused on the next challenge to solve, the next student to help, rather than communicating to others what it is we actually do.  Positive feedback tends to go in one ear and out the other, so when it comes time to share all the success we actually help people achieve, I’m somewhat at a loss. 

Gallery Furniture, for instance, believes in us, (because I had the audacity to approach them, and because they believe in everyone), but they still don’t really know what we do, and what impact it has on our students.  Especially with our local school district finally doing such a good job with our students, it sometimes becomes difficult to remember if we’ve actually made a difference at all.  Making ourselves obsolete is always the goal as coaches, but there’s a difference between students no longer needing help, versus not finding the students who still DO need help just because we can’t figure out our own messaging. 

So… this holiday season, if you feel we have at all helped you at any point in your career as a student, could you please find some time to just write a few lines about what we did and what it meant to you?   

It would mean the world for me, both personally and professionally. 

Just email us at satisfaction@satcollegeprep.com, and if you include permission, we’ll be happy to include your first name, last initial, and any pictures you send on our website and/or the monthly newsletter we’ll be putting out on a regular basis starting the first week in January.  I’d love to be able to keep you up to date on past and present students if you’re interested, let you hear about the same success stories that keep us going on the dark days.  We have so many bright and beautiful students going off to do great things; we’d love to build this network as a community and share your success with everyone.

Let me know what you think.

I love you all, and all of us here at SATisfACTion wish you the very best this holiday season.  I am always so excited that you’ve chosen to include us in your lives. We truly love being a small part of your village, and we thank you for being part of ours! 

We can’t wait to hear from you.  

Best wishes,

-Ellen March

CEO, Chief Academic Coach

SATisfACTion College Prep, Ltd.

16516 El Camino Real, #223

Houston, TX 77062

855-925-7528, ext. 700