Bart Fox attended Hill Learning Center as a high school student after being diagnosed with learning disabilities at age seventeen. “The Hill Center was a complete game-changer. After starting at Hill, it was the first time in my life I actually felt ‘smart’, and my confidence exploded in positivity after that.”
After graduating from Durham Academy and Hill in 2002, Bart attended the University of Arizona at Tucson and graduated from High Point University with a degree in Design/Architecture. After graduation, he practiced interior and structural design for residential, commercial, and healthcare systems for international clients while working part-time in the family business, Julian’s. He went on to work for Saks Fifth Avenue in menswear, managing the custom clothing department in Raleigh. He later returned full-time to Julian’s to manage the menswear, custom clothing and buying. As of April 2020, as the third generation in his family, he is running the business under the ownership of his uncle, Alexander Julian. Bart, his wife and their daughter live in Chapel Hill.
While reflecting on his education and experiences at Hill, Bart says, “Prior to the Hill Center, school was never fun for me. In actuality, it was probably the most miserable part of my life. In elementary, middle and high school, I had teachers tell me I was dumb, stupid, that I needed to try harder, and pay more/better attention. Some even told me that I would probably never graduate from high school and not to even bother thinking about a college degree.” But then as a high school senior, Bart came to Hill. “The combination of 1-on-1 instruction and the ability of the teachers to teach in so many different ways made learning not only possible, but fun!” He goes on to say, “Once the turnaround began, I think the only issue for my parents and me was ‘why didn’t we think of this sooner?’”.
Learning is life-long for Bart, and he points out that the ways he was taught to learn new things and retain information have carried throughout his classroom experiences and into his daily life. “Every single day, I put something into practice that I was taught at Hill.” A special memory for Bart was his first grade of “A” on an assignment. “From that point on, I made the Honor Roll both at Hill and at my other school, including High Honors at the end of the second semester of my senior year.”
Finally, Bart looks to current and future Hill students saying, “There has probably been a time in your scholastic life when you felt you weren’t up to snuff, that no matter how hard you tried, you would never succeed. But lower your guard, poke your head out of the shell of armor you have built up around yourself for protection, and open yourself up to new instructions.”