A self-ascribed sci-fi nerd, the bearded scholar who goes by Damon (17) likes BrainBoost for helping him organize his languages, math, transitions, and life!

How did you first hear about BrainBoost?
My brother came here for help with organization. He was the kind of guy who was like ‘Oh, this Provincial is tomorrow, What?!.’ Then he went to BrainBoost and it totally helped him get himself together. He told me, Everybody at BrainBoost is awesome! It’s super useful and it totally fixed my problems!

So I came to BrainBoost for organizational things too, 2 or 3 years ago, and then I started to do specific sessions for math, French, and English.

When you say organization, what happens in those types of sessions?
Planning – like, when are you going to do work for this class? How are you going to plan for it? BrainBoost helped me with staying on top of school so it doesn’t overwhelm me.

My biggest issue in school has always been organization: the lack of it affected my academics. I have a terrible memory and I?m not a very structured person. It was never that I didn’t care about school, I never skipped a class. I just didn’t have my things in order, I didn’t write anything down. But now, I’m totally good. I have everything under control. BrainBoost has not just made me more organized in school, but in all of life.

What do you think is different about BrainBoost?
Basically everything! Every day is a fun experience in my Pod! There’s a constant banter – It’s sibling-like bickering, you know?
The Pods are geared towards the students, much more adjusted to each individual need than public school. The English Pod is more about debate and it’s more open-ended. There’s a lot of thinking involved, not just following instructions. The essay in English isn’t like ‘Agree with me and write why you agree with me.’ We’re reading On The Road and we pick the topic to write about.

When did you switch to coming here full-time? Why?
This fall, at the beginning of grade 12, I was tired of school. Teachers were trying to make me do 8 courses even though I had enough credits to graduate. I could get B’s in classes, but I was cramming for the tests, and not really learning the ideas. I wanted to do more, and be a lot less stressed out. BrainBoost has done that for me – its a really fun and challenging place.

The public school system doesn’t work for everyone. It’s really important to have places like BrainBoost to provide an alternative.

You’re in the Transitions Pod. What do you do there?
You research post secondary opportunities and job stuff, later life organization. BrainBoost can set you up with volunteering opportunities or actual jobs and help you learn how to apply for jobs and build a good resume.

It’s extremely useful. I would be totally lost otherwise. The whole process is confusing. Without it I would have no idea and now I have a great resume.

Three words to describe BrainBoost.
Fun, has to be the first one.

Challenging, I find you actually have to think to do well. You can’t just spew random nonsense with fancy words and get an A. It doesn’t work., You actually have to think and have a solid argument.

Creative, I find this a very creative place.