ClovisIndependent:

“Sea Angels learning center in Clovis offers classes for 12-week-old infants. The facility operates on the concept that learning begins at birth and brains develop most rapidly in the first three years.

Sea Angels’ classes are available for children up to 12 years old and sessions for 4-year-olds and younger include parent participation. The goals are to unlock each child’s curiosity and imagination, enhance emotional and intellectual intelligence, and teach self-confidence and leadership skills.

The business opened last October and is located in the Parkway Trails Shopping Center on the corner of Willow and Nees avenues. There, owner Farrah Mason uses art, music and movement to maximize each child’s potential.

The movement portion includes an emphasis on gymnastics, which Mason says builds strength, balance and coordination, and develops large muscles. Pre-gymnastic and gymnastic activities include climbing, hoops, tunnels and ribbon twirls. Artistic tasks range from painting to ceramics to crafts. These activities are geared to teach critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork.

Mason, who is of Persian descent, moved to Fresno at age 18 and has lived there for 24 years. Married for 22 years, she is knowledgeable about rheumatoid arthritis because her 17-year-old daughter was diagnosed with the disease at age 1. The teen is a lifelong patient at Children’s Hospital Central California, and one of Sea Angel’s goals is to partner with the hospital in an educational capacity. Mason’s other goals are to increase enrollment from 200 to 3,000 children per month and grow into a franchise. Her startup cost was about $500,000 and she employs five part-time workers, mostly college students working toward teaching credentials. The child-adult ratio is usually 5-1, she said. Classes start at $12 a session.”