High Point Academy
Launching a business in a new community — especially one far from home — can challenge even the most seasoned entrepreneurs. Unfamiliar markets must be understood, new relationships must be built from scratch, funding must be secured, and a fresh team must be hired and onboarded. For Deilys and Daniel Calzadilla, the wife‑and‑husband owners of SCHOOL 499 Inc. d/b/a High Point Academy, a decade of success acquiring and revitalizing underperforming schools across eight South Florida locations didn’t guarantee confidence as they prepared to open a brand‑new school from the ground up in Ormond Beach, Florida. They knew they needed local insight and support, which led them to the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF).
High Point Academy is a combined preschool, elementary, and middle school built on a distinctive educational philosophy. Blending the structure of traditional schooling with the child‑centered Montessori method, the Calzadillas emphasize hands‑on, self‑directed learning. “We favor a ‘learning through play’ model,” explains Deilys Calzadilla, “where activities are very real world and hands on. For example, in preschool, they are learning to measure and mix ingredients; in elementary school, they are doing woodworking with real tools in age‑appropriate developmental activities; and in middle school, they are running a business, including recording their own content and making commercials to sell products, all while calculating their profit margins, their break even and start up costs. So it is very real world, not just being sheltered and learning the basics.”
Despite their extensive experience, the Calzadillas encountered new challenges with their Ormond Beach project. “We are very experienced in this field,” shares Daniel Calzadilla. “We’ve been doing this for a long time and been very successful doing it. But High Point Academy in Ormond Beach is the very first school that we were starting from scratch. So we felt we needed help from the FSBDC in doing the business plan, putting the financials together, and connecting all the pieces so we can be successful.”
The couple began working with Margaret Incandela, the FSBDC’s Ormond Beach‑based consultant, and quickly tapped into the center’s no‑cost consulting, market research, and business training services. “Maggie came in and helped us produce a wonderful business plan, very in depth with a lot of information,” Daniel highlights. “She helped us with marketing numbers, projections, and knowing the community and its growth. It was an excellent business plan and, because of it, we succeeded.”
Incandela also played a key role in helping the Calzadillas secure the financing needed to launch the school. “The bank approved our loan and we moved forward with funding,” Daniel reports. “Thanks to Maggie and the FSBDC. I thought I was going to get a little bit of help but I got a lot of help. She was amazing. We highly recommend working with them; it exceeded our expectations.”
Reflecting on their experience, Daniel offers a single word to describe the FSBDC: “Power. The SBDC gave us so much power and support to our business plan and to our thinking, and they gave us ideas that made for stronger solutions. We learned so much and gained power as business owners to be more successful.”
For information about High Point Academy, please visit https://www.thehighpointacademy.com/ .
