“FreshBrain is social networking gone good,” said Dale Ferrario, CEO of FreshBrain. “We wanted to create a place where teenagers can explore ways to apply their technology skills to the things that interest them most while also helping them prepare for tomorrow’s workforce, where they will be required to combine technical literacy with creative thinking" added Todd Ferrario, VP.
The FreshBrain site offers communities based on interests, such as music, videos, gaming, sports Web development, graphic design or green programs. Users can either build a concept from scratch, or join an activity in progress and collaborate with other friends or other community members. Advisors are also available to help guide the groups, answer questions or advance their technology skills.
Teachers and educators can also use the FreshBrain site to enhance their core curriculum. According to FreshBrain’s research, 50% of the technology freshmen learn will be outdated by the time they are juniors. Keeping up with rapidly advancing technology tools is often too expensive for schools. FreshBrain lets teachers incorporate the latest technology tools into the learning syllabus without having to raise budgets or alter the curriculum. Schools can also improve their technology scorecard by using FreshBrain to enliven the stem and core subjects with exciting and innovative technology-oriented projects while still meeting government standards and requirements. Teachers can also use FreshBrain’s protected social networking environment to share and exchange ideas, activities and class projects with other teachers and educators.
Partners
FreshBrain is a non-profit organization and is supported by partners that provide critical support, including monetary donations, access to technology, and volunteers. FreshBrain’s founding and platinum sponsor is Sun Microsystems. Fenwick & West and T-Mobile are the organization’s gold sponsors, and Skona Advertising is a silver sponsor. Other partners include Atlassian, Curriki, Drupal, Junior Achievement, Salesforce.org, and Skullcandy. Thanks to these partners, all services on the FreshBrain.org site are free of charge.
Contests
To kick off the summer, FreshBrainis launching over 30 summer contests called the Summer Splash series. The contests will set up a challenge for students to use their unique talents and creative skills to solve a specific problem. Prizes for the summer series include an iPod Nano, Skullcandy headphones, T-Mobile Sidekicks, gift certificates from retailers like Circuit City and Apple, a Kahuna Pohaku Longboard, and a video camcorder, totaling more than $10,000.00 in combined prizes for the series. For more information on the Summer Splash contests, visit www.freshbrain.org/summersplash2008.
About FreshBrain
Founded in 2007, FreshBrainis a non-profit organization that provides a social networking environment for students to create, explore and collaborate with the latest technology tools. FreshBrain sponsors include Sun Microsystems, T-Mobile , Fenwick & West, Skona Advertising, Atlassian, Curriki, Drupal, Junior Achievement, Salesforce.org and Skullcandy. FreshBrain is headquartered in Saratoga, California, with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and can be found online at www.freshbrain.org.
