Background
Kids With An Edge is the embodiment of years of experience and a sincere passion for helping children to succeed. It was founded by Anu, a true Seattle local and a first generation East Indian woman. She is an engineer, an experienced educator and a mother of three.
She is one of four siblings. Incredibly, each of them graduated as Valedictorian from Ingraham High School with a four-year full ride Washington Governor’s Scholarship! All four siblings are engineers, with one going on to become a doctor, another a lawyer and the youngest is a businessman who runs a software startup in Downtown Seattle. They give the credit to their parents’ wise guidance and meticulous attention in making sure each child stood on a strong foundation.
This foundation was not only based in academics but also in compassion for others. As a family, they are still involved in serving slum children, supporting medical missions and working with the homeless.
After she had her own children, Anu used the tried and tested principles she grew up with as a springboard to further develop and refine her skills and philosophy as an educator. She is sincerely passionate about investing in children earlier rather than later in order to build a strong foundation and give them that ‘edge’ in life!
Our family considers Ms. Anu Jain, founder of Kids With An Edge, a godsend for our 6th grader! She is not only talented in teaching and getting through to stubborn pre-teens, she is also a positive and encouraging role model for our daughter. Ms. Jain is patient, organized, reliable, kind, and fun. My daughter has always struggled with academics, and we have tried Kumon, Firefly Tutoring, and other private tutoring since kindergarten. It is not until we finally met Ms. Jain that her performance has improved and she feels confident in math. What strikes me most about Ms. Jain is her genuine concern to help her students truly succeed. She has vast experience with children of all ages and capacities. She turns even the most emotional, stormy, uncooperative, pre-teen into a willing and eager learner in minutes, with her sincere and caring personality and her gentle but assertive teaching style. She is a perfect match for our daughter and we are grateful everyday to have found her! Ms. Jain has a special gift of teaching and she is using her gift to change lives. I intend to have Ms. Jain as support for my daughter even through high school and university!
—Google Review: Julie Benefiel, PhD Pharmacy
Academic and Professional Experience
Anu studied electrical engineering and completed all of her pre-med requirements. She graduated summa cum laude, as the University of Washington’s Woman Engineer of the Year
During college, not only did she excel in her studies, but she also served a term as Miss India Community, Washington and enjoyed a summer as a Seafair Princess.
After college, she went on to work for Boeing where she was the youngest employee ever trained for the position of Designated Engineering Representative; a position that would allow her to certify Boeing documents on behalf of the government.
But education was always her passion. She has taught in Seattle, as well as internationally. Anu has taught college students math at the University of Washington’s esteemed Instructional Center. She has run her own tutoring center for elementary and middle school students and has run preschools in Seattle and overseas. She has also assisted in teaching Math club in the Seattle Schools.
She has volunteered to teach in schools for underprivileged children and as a Sunday School teacher. She has served as Room Parent, VP of Communications on the PTSA and as a PTSA grade representative. She has even taught Bollywood dancing to adults and children of all ages.
Personal Experience
After her children were born, Anu resigned from Boeing and started her own preschool and tutoring center. This enabled her to concentrate on laying a strong foundation for her children. She insists on a balanced approach, making sure her children are social, happy, healthy and caring human beings.
Both her biological children tested into the top 2% of all children in the Seattle school district and are/have attended school with the Highly Capable Cohort (HCC) for gifted children.
Her children have succeeded in Seattle as well as during a 4-year term in the local school system in India. As a family, they very much respect and identify with diversity. And her children are confident and compassionate individuals who are not afraid to advocate for themselves and for others. They all volunteer together at local homeless shelters and in the slums of India.
Her daughter graduated from high school with 4.00 GPA in all her Honors, AP, IB, and Running Start (college dual enrollment) classes. She was awarded a National Merit scholarship and was directly admitted straight from high school into the University of Washington’s Computer Engineering Department. She is attending the UW as an honors student. She was one of the youngest members of the exclusive, by invitation only, Google Code U and was chosen to intern at the innovative UW UbiComp Lab. She has subsequently interned at Sales Force, Amazon, Echodyne and Facebook! Math is her favorite subject, but she is also an avid reader and is authoring two different novels.
Anu calls her daughter, “my medieval princess”, because her daughter enjoys fencing, archery, horseback riding, and various forms of martial arts. She is also a “nextgen” girl and served as president of her high school Robotics Team.
As a 9th grader, Anu’s son is studying college level Calculus at school. Math is also his favorite subject. He enjoys swimming, soccer, martial arts, performing magic tricks and of course, computer gaming. He is “a little computer Geek” and the credit for setting up this website and the Robert Eaglestaff Middle School PTSA website goes to him (with a little help from his Dad)
He recently founded Carnivals For Kids– a volunteer group of kids whose mission is to bring smiles to disadvantaged and homeless children in Seattle and the surrounding areas. Anu mentors the group. The group welcomes children of all ages and their parents to participate!
Two years after the birth of their first child, Anu and her husband adopted a little 4-year old girl with cerebral palsy and significant developmental delays. They taught her English, phonics, reading, writing and math to her highest potential and continue to support her in her studies, physical needs and life skills. Recently, she competed in the Special Olympics and is the proud owner of several medals!
Anu has extensive experience working with a variety of ability levels and many different learning styles from various ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
When asked why she founded Kids With An Edge, she sincerely replied, “I love to teach – way more than I ever loved engineering – and I believe that the greatest gift we can ever give our children is a strong foundation. It is invaluable to invest in our child when, and even before they actually need help!”