By Tina Tuminella, February 11, 2022
![](https://cortonalearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Cortona-Academy-logo.png)
When Sharon Peruzzi Strauchs founded Cortona Academy in northern Virginia 30 years ago, she began with some very specific core principles:
- Stress how to learn, employing biofeedback techniques to study skills
- Offer a low-stress, happy, reward-based environment
- Hire experts who serve as mentors in specific subject fields, but more importantly, who are kind and empathetic
- Accept every student and provide brilliant, compassionate teachers to help each child reach their ultimate potential
It might not seem like groundbreaking criteria, but this proprietary teaching process Sharon has honed over three decades has resulted in much success over the years.