Building Brilliance Starts With Us

Register for our tutoring services and help your child to elevate their grades and their confidence.

Our Mission

The mission of Building Brilliance KW is to empower children through literacy, STEAM, cultural enrichment, mentorship, and meaningful learning experiences that inspire curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong love of learning. We are committed to helping children build confidence, strengthen their self-esteem, discover their potential, and develop the skills they need to thrive academically, socially, and personally. Through inclusive and supportive programming, we strive to foster a strong sense of belonging, cultural pride, community connection, and opportunity, ensuring that every child feels seen, valued, supported, and empowered to succeed.



Services

Literacy

Literacy

Our experienced educators deliver structured literacy tutoring to our students, in both English and French language.

STEAM

STEAM

Our students can receive STEAM tutoring in a variety of key areas. Every summer, we also hold a free STEAM summer camp in KW.

Culture

Culture

We lead activities, crafts and projects that provide our students with cultural enrichment and an abundance of self-pride.

Team

Sheena Alliniece

Principal Tutor

Sheena Alliniece is an Educational Assistant for the Waterloo Region District School Board. She has been a paraprofessional EA for 4 years and has had the pleasure of working with students of all ages and backgrounds. In addition to working as an EA she is also a Strong Start trained coach and tutor. Sheena has been a tutor for over 12 years and she loves to help students grasp difficult concepts in a fun and approachable way. Sheena’s philosophy is centered around creating a positive and engaging learning environment, where students feel comfortable asking questions and challenging themselves to learn new things. She believes that everyone has a unique learning style, and her goal as a tutor is to help students achieve their academic goals and develop a love for learning that will last a lifetime.

Maryama Ali

Principal Tutor

Maryama Ali is a current math and science teacher for the WRDSB. She graduated in 2023 with her bachelor of education in the junior-intermediate division. Before becoming a teacher, she spent many years as a tutor for non profit and private companies such as Mathnasium Learning center and Carizon’s Pathways to Education. Maryama is passionate about fostering confidence in each student regarding their ability to continue studying math and science. She believes that each student is capable of much more than they allow themselves to be and the transformative power of individual/small group instruction gives children the necessary space and time to hone their skills with educator guidance.

Brian Bernard

Director, Digital Experience

Brian Bernard is a professor in Conestoga College’s School of Applied Computer Science and Information Technology, and is a senior leader that has worked in the technology space for over twenty-five years, with focus in Mobile Device Management, Networking and Cybersecurity. Born and raised in Waterloo Region, he has extensive experience working with a variety of learners, from young children to corporate teams and the decision-makers at Fortune 500 companies. As a husband and father with five daughters of colour, he has been a strong advocate for gender equality, community empowerment and social justice, and often serves others through his expertise in a wide range of business and technology domains. Brian's function on the Building Brilliance board is to support its programs by procuring the technology needed for its services, creating artwork for events and tutoring sessions, managing the Building Brilliance website, helping with the initiative’s social media presence and campaigns, liaising with partners and to regularly participate in strategic planning.

Justice Daye-Fraser

Principal Tutor

Justice Daye-Fraser is a PrincipalTutor at Building Brilliance. She is a student at Wilfrid Laurier University and a WRDSB OT.

Locations

Kingsdale Community Centre

Click the link below for more information about the tutoring service that Building Brilliance offers at Kingsdale Community Centre!

Learn More  

First United Church

Click the link below for more information about the tutoring service that Building Brilliance offers at the First United Church!

Learn More  

Testimonials

     

 My child has never expressed more joy for attending a camp In KW than Building Brilliance. The staff, food, activities and peer building exercises (including learning a new skill like how to play chess) were her favourite experiences. This camp was accessible to parents in the region. I hope your camp is available next year. Thank you more than words! 

     

 I couldn't pick just one positive experience! One of the positive experiences was having my daughter and her cousins enrolled in summer camp that focused on learning and community. I am also appreciative that there were no costs associated with this program and that the kids were fed breakfast, lunch and snacks. Thank you for removing financial barriers. What an amazing program! We hope to be able to attend another session next year. Thank you for all you do. 

     

 Thanks for literally making my kid's summer! They loved the camp and they cannot wait for next year! Well done. 

     

 My kids enjoyed trying different cultural foods, they liked the staff and enjoyed meeting new friends. I hope I will find out about more opportunities sooner, as I only learned about this by word of mouth at the last minute! 

     

 It was so good for my son's self esteem. He got to be around people who were safe and understood him. The camp ended up being a huge gift for him! :) 

  

Instagram

Videos

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This past summer, Building Brilliance KW partnered with the First United Church in Waterloo ON to deliver our very first STEAM Summer Camp. This initiative was provided free of cost to the local community in Waterloo Region, due to the generosity of First United Church and our amazing funding partners.
Watch the video below to enjoy some of our favourite moments from this year's summer camp, and to see our young learners in action!

Flyers

Partners

Building Brilliance is made possible through the following partnerships:

First United Church

Partner

MT Space

Partner

Contact

If you'd like to contact us, please use the email address above or fill out and submit the form below. We'd love to hear from you!

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