StudyLab: A New Study Facility for Teenagers

StudyLab, a new location for middle school and high school students to learn study habits, opened on Jan. 13 at 75th and State Line. The building offers various comfortable rooms for students to complete projects and finish homework. 

StudyLab was created by parents Jamie Berg and Heather Johntz. Both having kids at Pembroke Hill, they have dealt firsthand with the hectic lives of students with heavy workloads in school while participating in extracurriculars. They hope the study skills learned can be translated into future work — whether it’s college or in the work force.

The programs offered range from renting a private room for $25 an hour to a month of unlimited hour-long sessions for $175. Students are able to book a private room as well as one of the two group rooms to work on projects and group studying. During all sessions, students can receive help from study mentors if they have any questions.

The hired mentors and tutors are highly qualified in a variety of classes including biology, chemistry, physics, math, english and history, and are available when students need help. The mentors consist of teachers, college students, retired teachers and students studying to become teachers. StudyLab also offers private tutoring if kids want more one-on-one time.

“All of [the mentors] did well in high school in math, science and they all can structure a paper,” Berg and Johntz said. “We have a couple that are language majors, and we’ve been surprised about how many questions a lot of our students have had on Spanish, and we’ve had somebody there that’s been able to answer all their questions, which has been great.”

After Berg and Johntz began advertising and informing friends and other kids in the community about StudyLab, 11 students signed up with their program in the first week. Johntz mentioned that she noticed students benefited from being in a study environment surrounded by kids working on their homework. Their time spent working on homework was also more efficient — assignments transitioned from three hours to an hour and a half.

Berg and Johntz think the students’ productivity has increased significantly due to the environment and mentors that check in to make sure they stay on task. They reported that the students were so focused, they didn’t need to tell anyone to put their phones away.

Teaching organization is one of StudyLab’s top priorities. In order to become organized, all members of StudyLab purchase an official planner, which allows them to schedule daily and long-term assignments, tests and after school activities.

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“We came up with a planner and that another focus is getting kids organized,” Berg said. “The parents seem to really like that.”

In addition to improving students’ study habits, StudyLab was intentionally designed to create a relaxing, distraction-free environment to maximize student productivity. 

“We tried to set it up like a coffee shop atmosphere,” Berg said. “A place where they knew they could come and other kids were hanging out and get a snack if they want to.”

Freshman Jolie Kerwin learned about StudyLab from a friend and thinks students will benefit from the center. Kerwin believes students will do well in the new environment being surrounded by other working on homework.

“It would help you get more motivated seeing people your age with you doing the same thing,” Kerwin said.

East parent Anita Newton is familiar with StudyLab and supports it because of the fundamental elements of studying like organization and productivity that are being taught.

“The traditional model for assistance is that you have a problem with a subject and you hire a subject expert to help you,” Newton said. “That’s helpful, but it underlines the problem, which is, most kids do not know how to study, and it’s not just about learning the ins and outs of Spanish. It’s really about knowing what you need to do to organize yourself, to be focused and to learn how to learn.”

According to Berg and Johntz, StudyLab’s ultimate goal throughout its coming years is to help students form good habits that will be beneficial in their futures — even if they don’t realize it.

“If we can create that situation for them, it will help their self-esteem; it will help them in college,” Berg and Johntz agreed. “The rest of the business part of it will take care of itself — we really are focused on creating a winning situation for the clients that come in.”