About Intown Stars
About
Our mission: Kids Like it Here!
Intown Stars is dedicated to taking care of every student's heart and soul; treating each child lovingly and respectfully. Our professional coaches are friendly and courteous with a focus on developing relationships with students and families. We believe our job is to coach children and educate the families. We do this by intentionally building relationships between coaches, parents, students, and the gym leadership. This allows us to structure our business decisions around the needs of our families, creating programming and policy to meet those needs.
We have grown exponentially over the years (we were named one of Georgia's top 500 fastest-growing companies) and moved into a 75,000 sq. ft. building on Dekalb Industrial Way in Decatur in August of 2022. The move and $ 4 million renovation have allowed us to expand our gymnastics, parkour, tumbling, aerial, and new dance offerings as well as planning for Baseball/Softball, Soccer, and more. You can read about the project HERE.
5 HOSPITALITY MANTRAS
Our mission: Kids Like it Here!
We designed our five Hospitality Mantras to reflect the environment we think will best serve that goal:
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We greet every customer with a smile and kind words.
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Our primary roles are problem solvers.
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Our customers are more important than the services we provide.
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We create raving fans by being transparent, honest, and open to feedback.
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Everything is prorateable, transferable, and flexible. The answer to how is yes.
Anna Santiago, Owner/Founder/CEO Intown Stars Atlanta
Intown Stars' 12 Teaching Principles
Our mission: Kids Like it Here! And we have designed our 12 Teaching Principles over the last five years with this goal in mind. All of our coaches are trained on these 12 principles every day - in our staff meetings, in our daily coach meetings before classes, in our Leadership Team meetings, and in our daily interactions together as a coaching team. We know we're not perfect (who is?!), but in all the work we do with the kids in our gym, we always set our intention to do it in a way that is congruent with our company's mission. And if you feel that your experience with us doesn't meet those standards, please contact us so we can make it right - and so we can constantly improve and grow!
Our 12 Teaching Principles:
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We are firm and kind.
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We teach kids to be leaders.
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We teach our motto: “The Body Follows the Mind.”
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We keep kids safe.
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We use positive discipline. When we feel the need to punish a child, we do the opposite and make them a leader.
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We reward excellence and perseverance over ability.
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We teach in a learning zone, rather than a panic zone or a comfort zone.
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We find success for every child in every class.
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We keep our students in perpetual motion.
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We ask students to use positive language to influence their body’s actions: “ I can do that.”
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We teach with creativity, variety, and fun!
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We respect the sovereignty of a child's body.
Our 5 Core Values
Growth
We are always growing our gym and growing ourselves, and learning through the process. We value mistakes as part of the process, and create a safe space for students and staff alike to make mistakes, celebrate them, and learn from them.
Courage
We are afraid of new and scary things, and we believe that we can succeed anyway. We succeed on purpose. Our students and our staff are encouraged to try new things, be uncomfortable, be afraid, and do them anyway. We encourage our students and our staff to speak out and speak up for others and themselves for what is right and good, even if the idea of doing so scares them.
Excellence
We work hard and do things well and in a timely manner. We respect the work and we respect each other. We are always professional in our work and our relationships. We follow through on our commitments to ourselves and to each other. When things are hard, we are solutions-oriented and find ways to make it happen.
Fun
We are lighthearted, don't take ourselves too seriously, create ways for fun to happen, and find humor in our journey together.
Community
We create a welcoming place where people want to be. We respect one another, even if we disagree. We are honest with our feedback, strong with our personal boundaries, and kind with our words.
INTOWN STARS' 8 HIRING MANTRAS
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Hire for character and culture fit; teach the skills.
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Don’t confuse potential with ability.
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We shall go short-staffed before we are poorly staffed.
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Be in hiring mode 24/7/365
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Let go of good. Hold out for great. “A” managers hire “A” employees. “B” managers hire “C” employees.
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When in doubt, don’t hire.
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Train and lead in a manner so you can hire and promote from within. In this way, we intentionally create our own culture.
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When you realize a hiring mistake, act swiftly. Your duty is to do the greatest good for the greatest number.
