--- title: "Sylvan Learning Franchisee Kari Weigel Brings the Power of Education to North Dakota" url: https://burnaze.com/article/c31eb0fb-8883-4935-87c5-19b646ff6d05 source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/sylvan-learning-franchisee-kari-weigel-brings-the-power-of-education-to-north-dakota-2713807 category: "Tutoring" industry: "Education & Childcare" segment: "Tutoring" published: 2020-09-03T12:07:22.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T02:01:24.708Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/dfff4f141c41168e7581f8f3f22dd2755169.jpg --- # Sylvan Learning Franchisee Kari Weigel Brings the Power of Education to North Dakota **TL;DR:** Kari Weigel, a Sylvan Learning franchisee, brings education to North Dakota, providing children with a bridge to success through exceptional education. Weigel has expanded her business, opening multiple centers across the state with the support of Sylvan Learning's infrastructure and training platform. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2020-09-03. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/sylvan-learning-franchisee-kari-weigel-brings-the-power-of-education-to-north-dakota-2713807).* ## Story Kari Weigel is no stranger to the opportunities made possible by Sylvan Learning . Before becoming a multi-unit owner of Sylvan Learning in North Dakota, Weigel grew up with the brand after her mother opened a Sylvan center in their community of Bismarck in 1995. Through this experience, Weigel saw firsthand Sylvan Learning’s mission to provide children with a bridge to success through exceptional education . “Sylvan Learning has been a part of my life for a long time,” said Weigel. “In fact, my husband and I went to look for real estate for my mom’s Sylvan Learning center during our very first date. Eventually, I went away to college and studied accounting, before finding my way back to Bismarck, North Dakota in 2004 when I started working for my mother at the Sylvan center. I didn’t start out with the goal of becoming a franchisee, but I quickly fell in love with the Sylvan Learning model and the type of work that we do.” In 2008, Weigel took over the Bismarck Sylvan Learning center after her mother decided to retire. After a few years, Weigel and her husband decided to expand their business and build a new center in Fargo, North Dakota in 2013. Weigel points to Sylvan Learning’s strong support infrastructure and training platform in streamlining the discovery and opening process. - Throughout the opening process and beyond, franchisees receive multi-layered support from a variety of departments including training, education, operations and the contact center. - In addition, franchisees are given individual attention from Sylvan’s marketing representatives and in-depth tools to run local campaigns on their own. “Our situation is interesting because we entered Sylvan ownership in two different ways — one was just through a transfer of ownership and the other was through a brand new center,” said Weigel. “The corporate team took us through discovery day, and provided hands-on training on all aspects of the business, including operations, marketing and more. The team was also highly encouraging and supportive when it came to expanding into multi-unit ownership.” Since then, the Weigels have opened three additional satellite locations across the state. When it comes to partnering with local schools and providing supplemental and enrichment education, Weigel points to Sylvan Learning’s program variety as the brand’s biggest differentiator. - Through technology-driven classroom innovation , ACT/SAT test prep curricula , in-demand STEM courses and more, Sylvan Learning is able to help students reach their academic goals. - Sylvan instructors also have the ability to curate personalized lesson plans for each student through SylvanSync™ , an adaptive platform that helps tutors develop and track progress in real time. As the Weigels continue to grow, the brand’s response to COVID-19 has allowed the franchisees to reach more students than ever. “We have worked hard with our corporate partner to develop new online offerings in order to see most students virtually,” she said. “North Dakota only has a population of 700,000, so it is a very rural and spread out area. Our virtual offerings have created a huge opportunity for growth as we can now reach students that are four hours away from a physical center. Plus, this is live instruction, which is often different than what students are receiving at school. I even started taking calls from families that didn’t think of Sylvan as an option because they were so far from a center. Over the next few months, I think we will start seeing more kids enrolling with us.” Through Sylvan Learning’s industry-leading differentiators , franchisee-support infrastructure and 40 years of brand awareness , the Weigels have been able to bring a valuable resource to the communities they serve. “There is no business quite like Sylvan Learning — everyday we are focused on helping kids reach their goals, which is really the greatest job,” she said. “My mom started as a teacher and soon realized she wanted to reach kids in a new way, and I ultimately fell in love with Sylvan Learning in the exact same way. Now, I’m eager to continue growing as part of the Sylvan family.” ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - franchise expansion (topic) - Education & Childcare (sector) - franchise support (topic) - Sylvan Learning (company) - education (topic) - multi-unit ownership (topic) - north dakota (location) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/sylvan-learning-franchisee-kari-weigel-brings-the-power-of-education-to-north-dakota-2713807). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/c31eb0fb-8883-4935-87c5-19b646ff6d05).