Frisco ISD Frisco Education Foundation

Frisco Education Foundation VIRTUAL Mindbender Academy 2020

Registration for the VIRTUAL Mindbender Academy 2020 opened on Thursday, May 21 at 8 a.m.!
Register Now

Mindbender Academy is a week-long summer camp that encourages participants to explore the world of science, technology, engineering, art and math. The program debuted in June 2008 and is open only to Frisco ISD middle school students. Each day features fun, hands-on activities to extend learning outside the classroom. Curriculum is designed by FISD staff and corporate employees who work in STEAM fields.
FISD incoming 6th, 7th and 8th graders ONLY
Students may only register for ONE Mindbender Academy AM or PM session.

- Monday - Thursday, June 8-11
  AM Session (9 a.m. - Noon)
  PM Session (1 p.m. - 4 p.m.)
  Students will select TWO(2) STEAM activities of their choice for Tuesday's Mindbender. (Details to follow)
- VIRTUAL Mindbender Camp Description
  There will be interactive approaches to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) via ZOOM, WebEx, etc. in order to introduce students to the various careers in the area of STEAM. Students will explore and get experience in all areas of STEAM, in order to give them an understanding of the careers and creative thinking that drives the success behind some of the biggest companies in the world.
VIRTUALLY through ZOOM / WebEx / Microsoft Teams / other technology methods.
NOTE: All participants will need to sign in no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of each session.
Mindbender Volunteer Sign Up is closed at this time.

Registration is $150 per participant. (There will be an additional $20 fee for the take-home kit for those who sign up for Tuesday's Engineering activity.)

2018 Mindbender Academy Video

What parents are saying about the camp:

My daughter and her friend are having the best time this week! She can't stop talking every day about what all they did and what she learned. And the best part is she is now saying she wants to be an engineer - yea!

What campers are saying about the camp:

I am really thankful to everyone who helped organize MindBender, this is not only from myself but from all the campers at MindBender. This whole week of camp was really exciting and I learned new and cool things. I am sure that MindBender is going to help me for the future with my inventions and innovative products. Can you please pass my thanks to everyone who helped organize MindBender academy, the instructors and the volunteers who came from NASA and Alcatel-Lucent.

What former campers are saying about the camp:

"When will I ever use this in the real world?" Whether spoken or unspoken, this question regarding parts of our education as students tends to linger in the depths of our minds. Frisco Education Foundation's Mindbender Academy completely eliminated these doubts surrounding my STEM education. From launching my own wooden catapult to mixing chemicals to create makeup, the broad spectrum of applicability that a STEM education has to offer left me astounded. Additionally, the feeling of creating projects with my own hands was extremely fulfilling. Thanks to Mindbender, I tackled my AP Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Computer Science classes in high school with ease, because I knew that for everything I learned, there was a real, mind-blowing utilization of that concept in society today. Thus, thoroughly inspired by STEM, in the future I hope to be a computer engineer working with embedded systems in biomedical devices, giving me the ability to not just be a problem solver, but also a problem "anticipator." Thank you, Frisco Education Foundation and Mindbender for an incredible introduction to my STEM journey.

Mindbender Academy seems like so long ago at this point in my life. I'm a senior in high school just finishing up the first semester and I can still look back to the amazing times I had at Mindbender and realize that without it, I wouldn't have done much of what I did in high school. I began taking CTE Center courses for engineering my freshman year, as I loved what we did with it during the summer camp. Even though I did not continue the engineering courses, I do still plan to major in engineering when I attend The University of Auckland in New Zealand next year. I am so thankful for Mindbender because it opened my mind up to so many things and set a clear path for me that I still follow today.

It feels like ages ago that I attended Mindbender Academy, but I can still remember how the experience made me feel, and how it has affected me. Before I attended the academy, math wasn't terrible, but I thought it was only really applicable in school. However at Mindbender I learned that math is fun, and is useful in so many ways. Math is not just something that we all need to know to do taxes and find the area of our lawns, math is something that we should all WANT to know, because not only is it useful, but few feelings compare to the satisfaction of completing a difficult problem. Through the Mindbender program, I discovered the joys of math, and began to investigate potential careers that would involve it. I took an engineering course in high school and decided that was what I wanted to do. And I can now proudly say that I have been accepted to and plan to attend the #1 undergraduate engineering school in the country, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology! Thanks to Mindbender Academy, something I used to find a chore has become a tool that I use daily, and a tool that I plan to use to better people's lives.