Tip Top Brain Tutoring Center is marking its 10-year anniversary by expanding to a second location in Sunnyside, where it will continue to offer high-quality, personalized tutoring in math, reading, writing and more.
The newest center, slated to open in 2026, is located at 9-11 Queens Blvd. and was founded by CEO and Astoria resident Ourania Liandrakis, who opened the first location in Astoria. The tutoring center takes a unique approach to helping students learn, with each instructor using core values of neuroscience and psychology in their teaching. This approach helps students recognize how they process information and manage stress, boosting their confidence and supporting their academic growth.
“We’re trying to instill a natural lifelong love of learning, and once we can build that confidence in a kid and show them the steps and methods that they need, that’s where we start seeing kids taking authority of their own learning and actually wanting to be there and asking questions,” Liandrakis said.
Equipped with a master’s degree in neuroscience and education from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in biology and children’s mental health from NYU, Liandrakis has always had a passion for education and wanted to make learning fun and interesting for kids. In the summer after she graduated, while participating in the NYU summer program for kids, a seven-week therapeutic camp for children with ADHD and autism, she came upon a rare opportunity to be a contestant on the popular game show “Wheel of Fortune.” Liandrakis flew out to Los Angeles to be on the show, and she used her winnings from the show to open the first Tip Top Brain location in Astoria in 2015.
“I always wanted to open a learning center that was different, no cookie-cutter tutoring,” Liandrakis said. “I wanted a place that really looked at the whole child, and I blended my passion for education, mental health and that science background that I really cherish. Bringing those hands-on experiences to the kids at a young age is something that I’ve always wanted to do.”
The tutoring center offers programs including private tutoring, after-school homework help, individualized tutoring, learning pods, essay writing help, state test prep, STEAM camp and summer camp programs, serving students from grades K through 12. Some college students who grew up taking classes at the center and are now seeking assistance have also returned to receive the extra support and effort that the center is known for. Each program is personalized based on the child’s needs, what their goals are, as well as observing the unique way in which they learn to tailor the program in a way that will not only give them success, but make learning enjoyable and feel like it is something they want to do instead of it simply being a requirement of attending school. As the new center opens, there will be expanded STEAM programs as well as other new programs that will be unveiled closer to the official opening date.
“It’s not necessarily that all the teachers who come in have a background in neuroscience in education, but it’s the core values that we have within the center,” Liandrakis said. “Taking a step back and understanding, how does this kid learn or how is this kid different from another, because no two kids are alike in their learning. We work with neurotypical and neurodivergent students all the time, and we’re there to nurture the whole child.”
The Sunnyside location is almost like a full-circle moment for Liandrakis, who had her first tutoring client from the neighborhood and was also gifted the plane ticket funds by the child’s mother to enable her to travel to Los Angeles to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, which led to the first space’s opening. As an official date is announced, more programs and information about the center will be unveiled, but for now, students can still enjoy the benefits of the Astoria tutoring center.
“My biggest passion is to really give them that lifelong love of learning,” Liandrakis said. “As a kid, learning really came naturally to me, and it was something I always wanted to do, and I just wanted to spread that spark to other students as well.”
To learn more about Tip Top Brain, visit their website.
