Hands on the brain.
John Hay's neuroscience and neurosurgery club, with Cleveland Clinic. Suturing, real anatomy, and monthly talks from surgeons who do this for a living. No application. Just show up.
2:30 · Room 381 · meeting day announced one week after school starts
Come to a meetingPractice suturing, work through skull and brain anatomy, argue real cases, and hear a Cleveland Clinic neurosurgeon once a month.
Suturing reps, real neuroanatomy, and monthly time with working surgeons.
No application and no experience. You do not need Cleveland Clinic onboarding to come to a meeting.
What a meeting looks like
- 01Grab a stool
Room 381 at 2:30, no application, no tryout.
- 02Get your hands in it
Suture on a banana peel, because skin forgives less than fruit does.
- 03Read the anatomy
Skull, lobes, tracts: the map a surgeon navigates by.
- 04Hear from the pros
Once a month a Cleveland Clinic neurosurgeon walks through a real case, and a recap post follows so you never fall behind.
You will probably keep quiet at your first meeting, sure everyone else already knows the anatomy. A few meetings in, you are handing the new kid the suture kit.
You
You practice the exact motions the field is built on: a clean suture, the name of a tract, the discipline to prepare before you show up. Members often say the first talk from a real surgeon is the day the career stopped feeling out of reach.
John Hay
Brain Stormers brings working Cleveland Clinic neurosurgeons into Room 381 every month and a brain dissection lab into the spring. That is rare access for a public high school.
Cleveland Clinic
The club runs on real mentorship: neurosurgery staff give monthly talks and work with interested members. Members who train here get a look at neuroscience early enough to aim for it.
Careers
Where this points
The skills you practice here are the same ones these jobs run on. Every card carries pay and outlook read straight from O*NET, the US Department of Labor's occupation site, the schools that train for it, and an honest read on what AI is likely to change.
- Anesthesiologist
- Neurosurgeon
- Surgical Technologist
- Biomedical Engineer
Inside Brain Stormers
Explore & practice
Brain Stormers calendar
When we meet
Year at a glance
Community boards
- • Celebrate specifically. Shoutouts name the win, not just the person.
- • Ask anything. No question is too basic, and families are welcome.
- • Protect privacy. First names and last initials only. Never post a phone number, address, grade, or health detail.
Every post is reviewed by Mr. Mendoza before it appears.
No bulletin posts yet. Be the first! 📌
Members and families only. Your post shows just your first name and last initial.
Vetted resources
Our Cleveland Clinic partner institute.
Cleveland Clinic Lerner: Neurosciences researchThe research-lab side of the partnership.
BrainFacts.orgSociety for Neuroscience public-education site; 3D Brain, articles.
Society for NeuroscienceThe field's professional society.
Dana FoundationBrain science and society; Brain Awareness Week.
Allen Institute for Brain ScienceOpen brain atlases and data.
Questions families ask
Then you are normal. The banana peel is there so first attempts are supposed to be clumsy, and a teammate or mentor walks you through it before you ever touch it alone.
Any biomedical student. No application: just show up at 2:30 in Room 381 once the meeting day is announced.
No. Meetings are at school. Onboarding (badge, health documents) is only needed for hospital placements and some site visits.
Hands-on neuroscience: suturing practice, skull and brain anatomy, case discussions, and monthly talks from Cleveland Clinic neurosurgery staff.
Come to a meeting and get your hands in it.
2:30 · Room 381 · meeting day announced one week after school starts
Drop your Brain Stormers submission in the OneDrive folder, or hand it to Mr. Mendoza in class. Both count. Sign in with your Microsoft (district) account, not a personal one. Nothing is turned in on Schoology: that is where the report-card grade shows up later.
Name the file exactly like this, with two underscores between the name and the title:
Lastname_Firstname__Assignment Title.pdfTwo underscores between the name and the title. Do not put your student ID in the file name: your district sign-in already tells me it is you. A file named any other way is not lost. It waits in a review folder until it is sorted by hand, so it is graded later.
Your receipt. Your own upload panel says Uploaded, with a green check beside the file name. That is your receipt. Screenshot it if you want a record of your own. Do not wait for the file to appear in a list. You should not be able to see anyone else's work in there. If you can see other students' files, stop and tell Mr. Mendoza.
Open the OneDrive drop