About Us

Who We Are:

The Ivy League Language School (ILLS) is a full-service foreign language summer school program that partners with schools and communities to create high-quality language learning opportunities during the summer.

Why Learn A Second Language?

If all students in the United States are to have the opportunity to become international leaders in any career field, they will need a foreign language education comparable to their peers in other parts of the world. They will need a robust foreign language instruction and year-round support with multiple entry points as early as elementary school, throughout middle school, and high school, and beyond.

Students in Europe, Asia, and Central and South America (Latin America) begin foreign language education as early as elementary school. For example, children in Panama begin foreign language curricula at 5 years old; in Japan at 10 years old; in Germany at 11 years old. Governments, educators, and policymakers in these countries recognize language instruction at an early age sets the foundation that allows students to develop language fluency over a lifetime.

Most people in the above-mentioned nations are bilingual; many become competent in a third language by the time they complete secondary education. All U.S. students could also become bi-and-trilingual with early-life exposure to second language education.

Our Mission:

To provide students in under-resourced schools and communities early life exposure to second and third languages. Early life exposure to foreign languages sets the foundation for second language fluency.

Our Vision:

We envision a world where every person reaches his/her full potential to be fluent in second and third languages regardless of income. Through bilingualism, every person can compete for international opportunities throughout their career.

Our Services:

To offer a full line up of world class foreign language classes, easy enough that preschoolers, teenagers, and adults can attend. To supplement foreign language programs and year-round support at primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, and work/study abroad programs at colleges/universities.

Why Partner With The Ivy League Language School?

Why Summer?

Thousands of students in low-income under-resourced communities spend the entire two-to-three-month summer break engaged in non-academic activities. Consequently, these students summer-after-summer are disproportionately affected by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. Simply stated, to no fault of their own, year-after-year these students are being preposterously left farther behind academically.The ILLS work in under-served communities to help fulfill the need for summer language learning opportunities. The ILLS partners with public schools across the country to help remove educational barriers and extend access to high-quality summer language learning opportunities. The ILLS’s mission is to provide students in under-resourced schools and communities early life exposure second and third languages. Language instruction at an
early age sets the foundation that allows students time to develop language fluency. Early exposure establishes language confidence that allow students to achieve fluency in second and third languages

OUR TEAM

Señor Starks

Chief Executive Officer and President

Señor Starks received his bachelor’s degree in business management and administration from Claflin University, and his master’s in bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to a rewarding career in pharmaceutical and medical device sales and consulting, but soon realized that he was not professionally fulfilled. He would find his life’s calling outside of the United States.
Desiring to learn and grow, and despite knowing only a few words of Spanish (“hola” and “sí”), he left the U.S. to live and travel throughout Costa Rica, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Panama. He enrolled in Spanish immersion schools and taught English as a second language in Panama. One of his third-grade students spoke four languages. This encounter showed him the potential for language fluency among children, when they are exposed between elementary and middle schools.
Now with command of the Spanish language, Señor Starks believes that his experience is testimony to the fact that immersion in everyday situations, and consistent practice, is the key to learning a foreign language.
After returning to the U.S., Starks taught Spanish in a Philadelphia high school and enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met Pablo, then a graduate professor at the University. Following conversations about his Panama experience with Pablo, Starks realized that he wanted to build a summer language school, to teach kids in under-resourced communities second languages early in life. Thus, the Ivy League Language School was born.
Starks is responsible for international strategy and corporate operations in-and-outside the U.S. His responsibilities include developing the company’s growth, forming new business partnerships, enhancing ILLS’ local presence and providing global functional support.

Señor Pablo

Co-Founder and Vice President of U.S. Operations

Señor Pablo is the vice president of U.S. Operations of The Ivy League Language School. Señor Pablo holds a bachelor’s degree in Education with a specialty in Primary and Secondary Education. He began his career in Santiago, Chile; teaching grade levels from elementary to middle school. After leaving Chile, Pablo traveled and worked in various teaching capacities in throughout Europe and the United States which cultivated his passion for history, philosophy and culture.
In the United States, Pablo taught Spanish at the University of Pennsylvania, where he met Gregory, who was his student. Their shared interest in providing high-quality language education in under-resourced communities led to the creation of The Ivy League Language School. Pablo applies his extensive international teaching experience alongside his passion in the classroom to ensure ILLS’ growth in the U.S. marketplace.