Our Founders & Staff
Biographies of the Founders
Sue Lindstrom Stewart, founder and mentor
BrainBuilders
Gymnasium was an inevitable evolution of my life. I was born in Japan, the oldest child of a Texan Air Force
pilot and his wife, then gathered friends and experiences criss-crossing North
America for the next 18 years. Although I didn’t make remarkable grades in school, I was a precocious
and voracious reader: Little Women at
10, Gone with the Wind at 12, and War and Peace at 15. Books have always been the touchstone of my
life.
I entered Baylor University and majored in English and Telecommunications. Then came marriage
and three little girls as I worked slowly on a Master’s degree in English. Upon graduation, I taught freshman and sophomore English at Brookhaven College in Dallas for 10 years. I home-schooled my children while teaching college English, which resulted in an advanced vocabulary and reading
skills for the children. My
husband passed away suddenly at 42, catapulting me into a full-time private
school teaching job and single motherhood.
I
re-entered matrimony a la The Brady Bunch
several years later with a Houston widower and artist with three children. All six children attended public
schools and earned their allowance by writing short stories during the
summer. Now out of
college with different degrees and various jobs, they are well-read, articulate, out-of-the-box
thinkers and life-long learners. Since my children’s education seems
to have served them well, I wanted to duplicate my educational principals and
strategies for the benefit of other people’s children. BrainBuilders Gymnasium was founded in
2005 and to date our program has devoted thousands of one-on-one hours to the
intellectual maturity of over 100 students.
Emalee Lindstrom Smith, partner and mentor
As
a child, I often sat on our worn green couch with a cup of Earl Grey, peeling an orange, and listening to my mother read Wind in the Willows. I was introduced to literature very early, so books have been my
dearest friends as well as portals to other places and eras, great topics for discussion
between my two sisters and I, and a mechanism for understanding and sharing
love within my family members and friends. My schooling was unorthodox but effective. I attended a private Christian school K-4th
grade. My mother homeschooled my
sisters and I for the next 3 years. I was delighted by this development, since I got to read several books a
week, work on long division problems at my leisure, plan and build science
experiments in the backyard, and study fascinating current events. My father passed away in 1995 and when my mother remarried, I
entered one of the top 100 public high schools in the nation. My strong scholarly
base--especially my large vocabulary gleaned from literary classics--enabled me
to thrive academically. There, I fell in love
with science and later attended St. Thomas University, where I received a
bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry.
During my college years, Mom worked with high school students in her home, gradually realizing the value of her
unique personal approach to intellectual development. Her theories and techniques for awakening a love for
learning in high-school age students worked so well that she had a waiting
list. I was newly married, recently graduated, and desperate for a job that was enjoyable, meaningful, and
flexible. The puzzle pieces fell together one afternoon. Mom needed a committed, enthusiastic
partner, and I needed to change the world. Kismet! Conducting BrainBuilders sessions and working with my dear friend and
mother perfectly combines the pleasures of learning and thinking with a chance
to encourage a similar desire in minds not much younger than my own.
