Community Celebration Planned for Kumon’s 40th Anniversary in St. Louis

Families from around the Greater St. Louis area will come together Saturday, Nov. 2, for games, giveaways and fun to mark 40 years of Kumon serving children in St. Louis. The 40th anniversary celebration is scheduled for 1 to 3 p.m. at the Education and Cultural Center, 725 Weidman Road in Manchester (next to the Hindu Temple of St. Louis). The public is invited.

“We are very excited to celebrate Kumon’s history of helping children in St. Louis succeed in math and reading and to introduce even more families to the power of Kumon,” said Melissa Hemann, a Kumon field consultant and organizer of the event.

In 1984, Dr. Dan Kimura, a professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, opened the Kumon Center of Ladue because he was concerned about the education of his sons, then fifth and sixth graders. He had learned about the Kumon Method in his hometown of Moriguchi, a suburb of Osaka, Japan, where Toru Kumon, a math teacher, had created the Kumon Method in 1955 to help his own son.

Dr. Dan Kimura will attend Saturday’s event with his son, Dr. Joe Kimura, a physician who was the first Kumon Student enrolled in St. Louis.

Saturday’s event will include games, giveaways, a balloon artist and snacks. Activities will be geared at children from ages 3 and up. Additionally, Instructors from local Kumon Centers will be available to answer parents’ questions about the Kumon Method. The Kumon Centers also are collecting books for a local nonprofit, The Little Bit Foundation, and attendees may donate a book, if they wish.

Beginning at 4 p.m., Kumon representatives will have a presentation for people interested in starting their own Kumon Center.