VGA Launch! Winner: Putting the Fun in Fundamental

Vision. Goals. Action! (VGA) was launched for homeowners seeking higher education and professional development opportunities. The program helps change the lives of eligible Atlanta Habitat homeowners and their dependents through scholarship and grant awards.

“A lot of our families, have the desire to start their own business and so we run a program, like Shark Tank, where they have to pitch their business to a group of judges.” said Dan Maddox, Retired Executive Vice President and COO of Atlanta Habitat.  

“They say this is what my business is and then judges ask them lots of questions and then we ultimately have a winner, and we will award money to help them grow their business.”

On occasion, two businesses will impress the judges and a second-place prize is awarded. Shymiria, founder and CEO of the FUNdamental Classroom was the second-place winner of the 2022 VGA Launch! Competition.  

Inspired by the Magic School Bus, Shymiria wanted to create a platform where she could create a fun, safe and customizable learning experience for her students along with creating resources to share with her fellow teachers.  

“Basically, just taking the “fun” of fundamental.” Shymiria explained “It’s taking that piece of information and being able to make it fun to me that just does my heart joy because I want education to be fun and I want to create an atmosphere where learning is more desirable for everyone.”

Shymiria creates fully customized education plans for her students. The schoolteacher spends one on one time with her students before creating these personalized workbooks.  

Instead of the traditional phonics index cards that say, “A is for apple,” she makes materials that the child can relate to personally such as “A is for Atlanta.” The workbooks include counting exercises, writing practice and much more.

Now that she has been awarded some money, Shymiria is looking to purchase a dual side printer to accommodate her growing needs and make her process faster.

“It’s amazing that somebody is actually investing their time and finances into my vision,” Shymiria said.