BrainOBrain Opens Seventh U.S. Location in West Orange

Seven-year-old Kashish Varshney, of Woodbridge, has memorized the abacus. She mentally can complete math problems that some teenagers still have to write out. She learned the method in six months as a student at BrainOBrain, an India-based organization focused on child learning. It opened its seventh U.S. site Saturday on Northfield Avenue in West Orange. All seven are based in New Jersey.

"It's good ... it's fun," she said. "I use fingers and remember numbers in the brain."

Varshney, as well as a dozen other BrainOBrain students dressed in green t-shirts, showed West Orange Mayor Robert Parisi, Council President Sal Anderton, Councilman Victor Cirilo and about 20 other patrons their learned talent during Saturday's grand opening.

"You can't capture what they did from the literature," said Parisi. "So to see it, is pretty impressive."

BrainOBrain Franchise Adviser Snehal Patel said his organization is a "fun-filled program" for children ages 4 to 14 that focuses on "whole brain and personality development." The whole brain development focuses on the use of an abacus that trains students to cognitively remember problem-solving techniques, said Patel. The personality development focuses on neurolinguisitc programming that allows students to become more confident, he said.

Rajni Varshney, president of BrainOBrain USA, said the program is aimed for students to "achieve more potential in their lives."

Varshney said the process starts by visualizing numbers in the form of beads. Students start by memorizing the abacus and, after the first level, the abacus is taken from the child. There are 10 levels and each level is three months. Students meet two hours each week for 30 months.

"We cannot touch numbers or feel them," said Varshney. "But, if I say 'three,' we can visualize it ... so we make the numbers real with the help of beads so they can visualize those beads in their brain."

Patel said BrainOBrain chose West Orange as its 577th worldwide location because of the township's diversity.

"Most of our students are Asian students and, with our Woodbridge center, we wanted to physically reach out to the other cultures and make sure they take advantage of this program," he said.

The West Orange location is a regional center that will serve northern New Jersey and Connecticut, according to BrainOBrain USA's website.

Parisi said the organization will help generate a positive business outlook for the township.

"When times are tough, to see people make a commitment to our community, I think that speaks to the community's strength," he said. "We're going to always do what we can to encourage businesses to come here and encourage their growth."