Sessions
SESSIONS
General Information & Guidelines:
All students have talent – something wonderful to contribute – so you do not need to be a master artist or tech guru to apply.
- REMEMBER: All students have talent – something wonderful to contribute – so you do not need to be a master artist or tech guru to apply.
- All Labs are limited to small groups, so each student receives individual attention.
- All Lab Sessions are presented by experienced professionals in technology (IT), marketing and creative design. Writing and Blogging Sessions are presented by ELA education professionals and experienced, degreed technical writers.
- Students should apply before the deadline of each Session (at least one week prior to start date) to reserve a spot. A minimum number of students is required for the labs to meet. Once you have provided an email, we will send reminder emails to notify all students and parents prior to each deadline, so please sign-up to receive reminders and other notices. All emails are kept private and we do not share or sell your information. Please read our Privacy Policy.
- After-school Creative Labs (Grades 5 – 12) are offered one or two days each week, and students will be grouped by experience levels. We also offer one after-school Creative Lab each week in Wearable or Displayable Art for our younger inspiring creatives (Grades 1-4) each week. This includes instruction time, “idea” time, and the hands-on crafting lab of Wearable and Displayable Art.
- Each after-school Technology Lab is offered one or two-days each week, for Grades 6-12. This includes instruction time, a hands-on learning lab, and time for collaboration between students.
- BrainStorm59 provides all computers, equipment and creative materials utilized during each student session. The equipment and supplies remain at school and the final products are available for each student to share with family and friends on the last day. Adults are encouraged to bring their mobile phones and laptops for hands-on instruction. (No PCs).
- Each student who applies will be placed on a wait list until the class is filled. If a chosen class is not filled, those students will always have the opportunity to choose another open class, or wait until the next Session.
- A $100 deposit is required to hold a spot in each student class and the first month payment is due at the time of enrollment. Students/Parents are auto-billed monthly. If the chosen class does not meet the minimum number of students enrolled, and the student does not elect to transfer into an active class session, the entire deposit will be refunded, or can be applied towards a future session. Adult classes do not require a deposit, and the adult Lab fee is paid at the time of enrollment.
- No food or drinks are allowed in the Learning Labs. We will offer beverages in our breakroom before or after labs. And for Labs that run up to 4 hours during the day, we will provide snacks. We have a lot of important material to cover, so please make sure to be on time.
- Spring Lab dates will be posted in December 2025 and Summer Sessions will be posted in March 2026, so please provide us your interests as soon as possible. Then, once you receive an enrollment acceptance notification via email, we ask you to go ahead and sign up early, since seats are limited.
- Check out the details of each Session subject below.
STEM Learning Reinforced Through Repetition
There is no better way for students to learn than by applying STEM and Creative concepts to the real-world applications they create. Brainstorm59 learning labs encourages learning through hands-on building, creating and designing, so retention is greater.
Learning through Design
Creating a cool T-shirt or poster design requires knowledge in mathematical concepts like dimensions, ratios, addition, multiplication, graphs, fractions, length, height and width, as well as pixels, color combinations, font sizes and styles, and more. So, in our Learning Labs, students actually apply what they are learning in math, language and art class to real-world products they enjoy creating. This reinforces what they learn in school, provides a viable skill, and gives them a final product of which they can be proud (Which also boosts self-confidence).
Hands-on Learning
Hands-on (or tactile) learning is one of the absolute best ways for students to comprehend and retain what they are learning. In our Wearable and Displayable Art labs, students not only have fun creating jewelry, ornaments, and architectural structures in clay and other art media, they learn math skills like measurement, patterns, grids, dimensions, fractions, ratios, and proportions, as well as the geometry of shapes and forms, and structural integrity and balance. They will learn Cost Analysis (cost of the product), Gross Profits (Cost of product vs. Sales price), Net Profit (All expenses vs. Sales) and other usable math skills.
Learning through Application
Recent studies* show that 40% of students interviewed globally want to be an “Influencer” or mobile developer as a career. In our Video Production and Mobile Design and Development learning labs, students learn effective script writing and storyboard techniques, the rule of thirds, how geometry is used for camera angles and character movement, the Inverse Square law for lighting, ratios and percentages for editing, addition and subtraction for budgets and estimations. Writing and Math skills are strongly reinforced when learning to create something of interest.
Learning through Development
Students may want to create video games, like the ones they love to play and can jumpstart this journey with our learning labs, like introduction to Python coding and user interface (UI) design, writing creative story boards, learning how the x-y axis is utilized for character movement, when ratios and percentages are applied to game environments, and how basic math is applied in loops for creating repetitive movement and actions. STEM concepts introduced in traditional classrooms are reinforced when students apply those concepts to the things they enjoy everyday.
Please see our FAQs for more details on school policies and to answer individual questions.
Adult Online Safety
Adult-Level Labs focus on how to minimize your risk of hacking and online fraud. We will show you how to adjust specific settings (3rd Party Cookies, Browser tracking, Location tracking, Bluetooth exposure, etc.) to minimize exposure to outside sources. Each Lab will focus on specific brands (Apple, Microsoft, various Androids, etc.) and browsers (Thunderbird, Chrome, Microsoft, Firefox, etc.) and help you understand what settings can keep you safe. We will also teach Microsoft Office products and how to get the most of of these. Each block is 2-4 hours, depending upon the Session time/days. Food and Beverages will be provided for 4-hour sessions. These Labs will be scheduled throughout the year, so please provide your interests and email address to receive Lab updates.
College-Prep Labs
Graduating high school Seniors and College-Level Labs are focused on College Prep for English Writing and Papers (ELA), to get “college-ready”. Each block is 2-4 hours each day, for one or two weeks, depending upon the Session time/days. Food and Beverages will be provided for 4-hour sessions.
In these Prep Labs, you will learn how to structure your college English papers, how to ethically find and utilize information sources, how to attribute quoted material, and much more. We will also offer online Math-testing preparation, and help you become more confident when utilizing online resources during your college years. Please provide your email and interests, so we can schedule labs to meet your needs.
